Assessment of health-related quality of life after radiofrequency ablation or laparoscopic surgery for small renal cell carcinoma: a prospective study with medical outcomes Study 36-Item Health Survey (SF-36).
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to assess the changes in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) during follow-up period in patients treated with percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA) or laparoscopic surgery for small renal cell carcinoma.


METHODS
From December 2004 through September 2006, for 37 consecutive patients, who were diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma and underwent percutaneous RFA (n = 20) or laparoscopic radical nephrectomy (n = 17) at our institution. HRQoL was evaluated prospectively using SF-36 Health survey pre- and post-operatively (1, 4, 12 and 24 weeks after surgery).


RESULTS
Four of the eight scale scores of SF-36 were significantly lower pre-operatively in the RFA group than in the laparoscopic surgery group. The QoL scores in physical functioning, role-physical functioning and role-emotional functioning were significantly reduced one week after laparoscopic surgery. However, there was no reduction of the SF-36 QoL scores one week after operation in the RFA group. Furthermore, HRQoL scores in the RFA group showed a tendency to improve during follow-up periods.


CONCLUSIONS
This is the first study to evaluate HRQoL changes (up to 24 weeks) in patients who have undergone RFA or laparoscopic radical nephrectomy for small renal cell carcinoma. No reduction, but rather an improvement, in HRQoL was seen in the RFA group during follow-up periods. From the point of view of QoL, RFA could be a viable alternative treatment for selected patients with small renal cell carcinoma. RFA could be a viable alternative treatment for the selected patients with small renal cell carcinoma.
Onishi
Takehisa
T
Department of Urology, Yamada Red Cross Hospital, 810 Takabuku, Misono, Ise, Mie, Japan, 516-0805, Japan. takehisa@yamada.jrc.or.jp
Nishikawa
Kouhei
K
Hasegawa
Yoshihiro
Y
Yamada
Yasushi
Y
Soga
Norihito
N
Arima
Kiminobu
K
Yamakado
Koichiro
K
Hoshina
Akira
A
Sugimura
Yoshiki
Y
D000328:Adult; D002292:Carcinoma, Renal Cell / Q000601:surgery*; D017115:Catheter Ablation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D010535:Laparoscopy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009392:Nephrectomy / Q000379:methods; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life