Sensory Function in Patients with Head and Neck Cancer Undergoing Oncologic Treatment
Marcella Santos Januzzi, Daniela Micheline dos Santos, Lucas Tavares Piacenza, Larissa Iceri Perez, Larissa Viana Pinheiro, Estéfany Lopes Lemes do Prado, Clóvis Lamartine de Moraes Melo Neto, Fernanda Pereira de Caxias, Marcelo Coelho Goiato, Karina Helga Leal TurcioAbstract
The treatment of head and neck cancer can significantly impair patients' quality of life, leading to oral and sensorineural complications. This study aimed to explore whether sensory alterations are primarily associated with tumor presence or with the effects of oncologic treatment by longitudinally assessing spontaneous orofacial pain and provoked muscle pain - in a case series of seven patients diagnosed with head and neck cancer undergoing oncologic treatment. Patients were selected from the Oral Oncology Center (COB) of the School of Dentistry at Universidade Estadual Paulista “Júlio de Mesquita Filho”. Assessments were conducted at 5 time points: baseline (T0), 30 to 45 days post-surgery (T1), one-week post-chemotherapy (T2), during radiotherapy (T3), and one-week post-radiotherapy (T4). Sensory function was analyzed through spontaneous pain measured by the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) from 0 to 10, and provoked pain assessed via palpometry using 1 kg pressure and algometry tests on the masseter, temporalis, and sternocleidomastoid muscles. Only one patient (case 1) reported pain at T0, while two patients (cases 3 and 4) reported pain related to radiotherapy. Provoked muscle pain was highest at T0, particularly in cases 1, 4, and 7, but did not correlate with algometry pain thresholds. This case series indicates that sensory function may be affected by both tumor presence and oncologic treatment in a subset of patients.