title: Recovery of quality of life in year after laparoscopic or retropubic radical prostatectomy: a multi-institutional longitudinal study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the general and disease-specific health-related quality of life (HRQOL) after laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP) with that after retropubic radical prostatectomy (RRP).
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 45 patients who underwent LRP alone and 121 who underwent RRP alone were prospectively enrolled in an HRQOL survey. We measured the general and disease-specific HRQOL with the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short Form and University of California, Los Angeles, Prostate Cancer Index, respectively. The participants were asked to complete the questionnaires before and 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No significant differences were found in the preoperative characteristics of the two groups. Repeated measures of analyses of variance revealed significantly different patterns of alteration in the several general HRQOL domains between the RRP and LRP groups. The LRP group tended to have a more delayed recovery than the RRP group in the domain of urinary function and bother. The sexual function and bother of both groups showed a substantially lower score throughout the postoperative period. When the LRP group was divided into two groups according to the surgical period, an apparent improvement in HRQOL was observed in the most recent LRP series.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The two approaches showed different patterns of alteration regarding general HRQOL for 1 year after surgery. The LRP group reported delayed recovery of urinary and sexual function, which seemed to affect their general HRQOL. LRP appears to be still an evolving procedure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: Shunichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Namiki
authors.forename: Shin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Egawa
authors.forename: Shiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Baba
authors.forename: Toshiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Terachi
authors.forename: Yukio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Usui
authors.forename: Akito
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Terai
authors.forename: Tatsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tochigi
authors.forename: Masaaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kuwahara
authors.forename: Naomasa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ioritani
authors.forename: Yoichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Arai
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011468:Prostatectomy / Q000379:methods* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors