ReviewPalliative & supportive care2025
Non-curative care options for patients with advanced-stage head and neck cancer: Current state of the science and future opportunities.
Review in Palliative & supportive care, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesHead and neck cancer (HNC) often requires complex management and care. While the primary goal of treatment is curative, some advanced cases require consideration of non-curative pathways to optimize patients' quality of life (QOL) and survival. This narrative review describes important aspects of palliative care and highlights strategies for employing these non-curative options in HNC.
methodsWe identified peer-reviewed articles on the state of palliative care in HNC and its implementation. We searched for articles using terms including "palliative care," "non-curative care," "comfort care," "head and neck cancer," and "head and neck squamous cell carcinoma."
resultsHNC is associated with a high disease burden; patients report high levels of pain, and both disease and treatment often compromise ability to carry out activities of daily living. There exist several non-curative routes of treatment, including palliation of symptoms, acute end-of-life (EOL) care, and hospice and home care. These care options provide comfort and optimize QOL of patients. Unfortunately, non-curative care could be misconstrued as withdrawal of treatment, or the provider team "giving up" on patient; these misconception can discourage patients from embracing palliative measures designed to alleviate symptom burden. Proper physician-patient communication, normalization, and early incorporation of these non-curative strategies into mainstream treatment could potentially ease patient concerns, and, eventually in EOL cases, help patients achieve dignified deaths. SIGNIFICANCE OF
resultsPatients with HNC have unique palliative care needs due to their complex treatment and symptom burden. Early incorporation of non-curative plans such as palliative care alongside active treatment could help reduce symptom burden. Clinicians should strive to build trusting relationships with patients with HNC and effectively communicate with them about palliative care options. Guidelines that include such recommendations can help physicians regularly introduce palliation into the realm of active HNC treatment for advanced/incurable disease.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.