Scoring of treatment-related late effects in prostate cancer.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the correlation between different general and organ specific quality of life and morbidity scoring methods in a cohort of men treated with radical radiotherapy for prostate cancer.


METHODS
Men who had been treated with radical radiotherapy (50 Gy in 16 fractions over 21 days) for localized prostate cancer more than 3 years previously and who had no evidence of recurrent disease were invited to take part in the study. A total of 101 of 135 invited patients agreed and completed LENT/SOMA, UCLA Prostate Cancer Index, and 36 item RAND Health survey questionnaires.


RESULTS
The patients had comparable results with other published series with respect to the UCLA and SF-36 indices. There was significant correlation between the corresponding parts of the UCLA and LENT/SOMA scales (P<0.0005). However, for the same symptoms, a patient tended to score lower (worse) on the UCLA scale in comparison to LENT/SOMA. The relationship between the average LENT/SOMA score and maximum score was also not straightforward with each set of data revealing different information.


CONCLUSIONS
The LENT/SOMA questions were, in the main, more wide-ranging and informative than the UCLA index. It is helpful to give both the overall and maximum LENT/SOMA scores to most efficiently use all of the data. There may need to be a further LENT/SOMA question to allow both symptoms of tenesmus and faecal urgency to be fully addressed.
Livsey
Jacqueline E
JE
Department of Clinical Oncology, Christie Hospital NHS Trust, Wilmslow Road, Withington, Manchester M20 4BX, UK.
Routledge
Jacqueline
J
Burns
Meriel
M
Swindell
Rick
R
Davidson
Susan E
SE
Cowan
Richard A
RA
Logue
John P
JP
Wylie
James P
JP
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology* / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D020266:Radiotherapy, Conformal / Q000009:adverse effects*; D012735:Sexual Dysfunction, Physiological / Q000209:etiology; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D001745:Urinary Bladder Diseases / Q000209:etiology