title: Quality of life after radical prostatectomy in elderly men.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the impact of radical prostatectomy (RP) on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in elderly men with prostate cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between January 2002 and December 2006, a total of 205 elderly men (>or=70 years) undergoing RP participated in our longitudinal outcome study. Patients completed general (Short Form 36) and disease-specific (University of California, Los Angeles Prostate Cancer Index) HRQOL questionnaires. A t-test was used to compare each HRQOL score after RP with the baseline scores and Cox proportional hazard models to characterize the recovery trends.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients undergoing RP showed physical problems, which diminished over time. Several emotional domains significantly improved during the follow-up period. By 2 years postoperatively, 57% and 81% of subjects had fully returned to baseline urinary function and bother, respectively. Mean recovery time to baseline urinary function and bother was 8.3 months and 4.7 months, respectively. When incontinence was defined as 'no pad', 82% of patients reported continence. Whereas only 25% of patients returned to the baseline sexual function level, 83% had reached baseline sexual bother. Among those returning to their own baseline scores, the mean recovery time was 10.9 months for sexual function and 5.3 months for sexual bother.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Selected elderly patients can achieve satisfactory functional outcomes after RP. These outcomes should be considered when decisions about treatment are made.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan. namikin@uro.med.tohoku.ac.jp
authors.forename: Shunichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Namiki
authors.forename: Shigeto
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ishidoya
authors.forename: Tatsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tochigi
authors.forename: Akihiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Yoichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Arai
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D011468:Prostatectomy; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D011788:Quality of Life