Quality of life in men treated with carbon ion therapy for prostate cancer.
OBJECTIVE
To prospectively assess patient quality of life (QOL) after carbon ion radiotherapy (C-ion RT) for prostate cancer, using established questionnaires.


METHODS
The subjects were 150 patients who underwent C-ion RT. Of these, 25 patients with low-risk prostate cancer received C-ion RT alone, whereas the remaining 125 patients with a high-risk tumor also received androgen deprivation therapy. Quality of life was assessed using the self-administered Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Prostate (FACT-P) questionnaire in all patients three times. In addition, the University of California-Los Angeles Prostate Cancer Index (UCLA-PCI) was conducted in the low-risk patients.


RESULTS
The FACT-General (FACT-G) and FACT-P scores at 12 months after treatment averaged over all 150 patients showed no significant change compared with those before C-ion RT. In FACT-P subscales, emotional well-being increased significantly just after and 12 months after treatment. In contrast, physical well-being (PWB) and social/family well-being (S/FWB) decreased significantly at 12 months, whereas the prostate cancer subscale (PCS) decreased significantly just after treatment. Average scores for FACT-G, FACT-P, PWB, S/FWB, and PCS for the 125 patients receiving hormone therapy showed substantial detrimental changes at 12 months. In contrast, those of the 25 low-risk patients who had no hormone therapy showed no significant change. Similarly no significant change in the average of the UCLA-PCI scores in the low-risk patients was seen at 12 months.


CONCLUSIONS
Average QOL parameters reported by patients with localized prostate cancer treated with C-ion RT, in the absence of hormone therapy, showed no significant decrease 12 months after C-ion RT.
Wakatsuki
Masaru
M
Department of Radiation Oncology, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Gunma, Japan.
Tsuji
Hiroshi
H
Ishikawa
Hitoshi
H
Yanagi
Takeshi
T
Kamada
Tadashi
T
Nakano
Takashi
T
Suzuki
Hiroyoshi
H
Akakura
Koichiro
K
Shimazaki
Jun
J
Tsujii
Hirohiko
H
D002247:Carbon Isotopes / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D063193:Heavy Ion Radiotherapy; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D011788:Quality of Life; D020127:Recovery of Function; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D002247:Carbon Isotopes