Prospective longitudinal comparative study of health-related quality of life in patients undergoing invasive treatments for localized prostate cancer.
OBJECTIVE
Health-related quality of life (QoL) concerns are important for patients selecting treatment options for clinically localized prostate cancer and are critical in evaluating outcomes. We report pretreatment and post-treatment general and disease-specific QoL for the following invasive interventions: open radical prostatectomy (ORP), laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP), and palladium-103 ((103)Pd) brachytherapy.


METHODS
We performed a prospective longitudinal survey of 452 patients with newly diagnosed prostate cancer treated at a single medical center between 2001 and 2003. An Institutional Review Board-approved questionnaire comprised of validated QoL instruments was sent to patients scheduled to undergo ORP (N = 186), LRP (N = 116), or brachytherapy (N = 150). The same questionnaire was sent out 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after therapy. Comparisons were made between the groups to determine if the choice of therapy resulted in differences in QoL.


RESULTS
General QoL scores were minimally affected by the choices; however, the disease-specific domains of bowel, urinary, and sexual function were adversely affected by all modalities. The ORP and LRP groups were similar among disease-specific domains and received lower post-treatment urinary and sexual scores than the (103)Pd patients. At 12 months, 38% of ORP and 46% of LRP patients had returned to baseline urinary function compared with 75% of (103)Pd patients. At 12 months, 63% of (103)Pd patients had returned to baseline sexual function compared with 19% of both the LRP and ORP patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Invasive treatments for localized prostate cancer have little impact on general QoL but significantly affect disease-specific domains. Both ORP and LRP have a greater initial negative impact on urinary and sexual function than (103)Pd. The differences among the treatments with regard to QoL provide information to patients faced with choosing a treatment.
Soderdahl
Douglas W
DW
Department of Urology, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Devine-Tidewater Urology, 400 W. Brambleton Avenue, Norfolk, VA 23510, USA. DWSKJS@msn.com
Davis
John W
JW
Schellhammer
Paul F
PF
Given
Robert W
RW
Lynch
Donald F
DF
Shaves
Mark
M
Burke
Bonnie L
BL
Fabrizio
Michael D
MD
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001918:Brachytherapy / Q000379:methods; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy / Q000379:methods; D007813:Laparotomy / Q000379:methods; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008390:Markov Chains; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D011336:Probability; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011468:Prostatectomy / Q000379:methods*; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D011788:Quality of Life; D018570:Risk Assessment; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome