Nieuwe ontwikkelingen in behandeling en revalidatie bij hoofd-halskanker

Conflict of interest: the institute employing M.W.M. van den Brekel and F.J.M. Hilgers has received an unrestricted research grant from Atos Medical. Financial support: none declared.

• Head and neck cancer is relatively rare: in the Netherlands, some 2600 newly diagnosed cases are registered annually.

• Its treatment is centralised and is actually performed only in Dutch Head and Neck Society (DHNS) accredited medical centres.

• Although survival rates have improved only marginally, treatment regimens have changed over the past few years. Treatment has become increasingly focused on the preservation of organs and their functionalities.

• The effects of both a tumour and its treatment can have a serious impact on the functioning and quality of life of a patient. Therefore, sufficient attention to post-treatment rehabilitation is necessary.

• The Netherlands Cancer Institute has recently collaborated with the Amsterdam Rehabilitation Research Center Reade in developing a structured multidisciplinary rehabilitation programme. This programme has also been made available to other DHNS centres.