Screening and Psycho-Oncological Support for Patients With Head and Neck Cancer and Brain Malignancies Before Radiotherapy With Mask Fixation: Results of a Feasibility Study

Sebastian Adeberg; Christina Sauer; Lena Lambert; Sebastian Regnery; Paul Windisch; Karim Zaoui; Christian Freudlsperger; Julius Moratin; Benjamin Farnia; Christoph Nikendei; Juergen Krauss; Johannes C Ehrenthal; Rami El Shafie; Juliane Hörner-Rieber; Laila König; Sati Akbaba; Kristin Lang; Thomas Held; Stefan Rieken; Juergen Debus; Hans-Christoph Friederich; Imad Maatouk

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.760024

Screening and Psycho-Oncological Support for Patients With Head and Neck Cancer and Brain Malignancies Before Radiotherapy With Mask Fixation: Results of a Feasibility Study

Front Psychol. 2021 Dec 16:12:760024. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.760024. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Sebastian Adeberg^{1

2

3

4}, Christina Sauer^{1

5}, Lena Lambert⁵, Sebastian Regnery^{1

2

3}, Paul Windisch⁶, Karim Zaoui⁷, Christian Freudlsperger⁸, Julius Moratin⁸, Benjamin Farnia⁹, Christoph Nikendei⁵, Juergen Krauss¹, Johannes C Ehrenthal¹⁰, Rami El Shafie^{1

2

3}, Juliane Hörner-Rieber^{1

2

3

4}, Laila König^{1

2

3}, Sati Akbaba^{1

2

3}, Kristin Lang^{1

2

3}, Thomas Held^{1

2

3}, Stefan Rieken¹¹, Juergen Debus^{1

2

3

4

5}, Hans-Christoph Friederich⁵, Imad Maatouk^{1

5

12}

Affiliations

¹ National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT), University Hospital Heidelberg (UKHD) and German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany.
² Department of Radiation Oncology, University Hospital Heidelberg (UKHD), Heidelberg, Germany.
³ Heidelberg Institute for Radiation Oncology (HIRO), National Center for Radiation Research in Oncology (NCRO), UKHD and DKFZ, Heidelberg, Germany.
⁴ Clinical Cooperation Unit Radiation Oncology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany.
⁵ Department of General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, University Hospital Heidelberg (UKHD), Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
⁶ Department of Radiation Oncology, Kantonsspital Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland.
⁷ Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
⁸ Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
⁹ Department of Radiation Oncology, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami, Miami, FL, United States.
¹⁰ Department of Psychology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
¹¹ Department of Radiation Oncology, Goettingen University Hospital, Goettingen, Germany.
¹² Section of Psychosomatic Medicine, Psychotherapy and Psychooncology, Department of Internal Medicine II, Julius-Maximilian University Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.

Abstract

This single-center, single-arm trial investigates the feasibility of a psycho-oncological care program, which aims to reduce psychological distress and improve compliance with radiotherapy with mask fixation in patients with head and neck cancer or brain malignancies. The care program comprised (1) a screening/needs assessment and (2) the provision of a psycho-oncological intervention using imaginative stabilization techniques for distressed patients (distress due to anxiety ≥5) or in a case of subjective interest in the psycho-oncological intervention. Another allocation path to the intervention was directly through the radiation oncologist in charge who classified the patient as: in need of support to tolerate the immobilization device. Of a total of 1,020 screened patients, 257 (25.2%) patients indicated a distress ≥5 and 141 (13.8%) patients reported panic attacks. 25% of the patients reported a subjective interest in psycho-oncological support. A total of 35 patients received the psycho-oncological intervention, of which 74% were assigned by radiation oncologists. In this small patient cohort, no significant pre-post effects in terms of depression, anxiety, distress, and quality of life (mental and physical component scores) could be detected. Our results indicate a good feasibility (interdisciplinary workflow and cooperation, allocation by physicians in charge) of the psycho-oncological care program for this cohort of patients before radiotherapy with mask fixation. The screening results underline the high psychological distress and demand for psycho-oncological support. However, since the utilization of our intervention was low, future studies should reduce the barriers and improve compliance to psycho-oncological services by these patients.Clinical Trial Registration: https://www.drks.de/drks_web/setLocale_EN.do #DRKS00013493.

Keywords: cancer; distress; head and neck; mask fixation; radiation.

Copyright © 2021 Adeberg, Sauer, Lambert, Regnery, Windisch, Zaoui, Freudlsperger, Moratin, Farnia, Nikendei, Krauss, Ehrenthal, El Shafie, Hörner-Rieber, König, Akbaba, Lang, Held, Rieken, Debus, Friederich and Maatouk.