Long-term quality of life following primary treatment in men with clinical stage T3 prostate cancer.
OBJECTIVE
We evaluated the changes of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) during the 5 years after radical prostatectomy (RP) or external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) for clinical stage T3 prostate cancer (cT3PC).


METHODS
A total of 750 patients who underwent RP (n = 575) or EBRT (n = 175) participated in our longitudinal outcomes study. Of these patients, 48 RP patients (8%) and 63 EBRT patients (36%) presented with cT3PC and were included in this analysis. Patients completed the general and disease-specific HRQOL with the Short Form 36 (SF-36) and University of California, Los Angeles Prostate Cancer Index, respectively.


RESULTS
When examining the mean SF-36 values by time, there was significant impact on treatment outcomes for several items of the general HRQOL in the RP subjects. Those who underwent EBRT reported no significant changes in the general HRQOL throughout the follow-up period. With regard to disease-specific HRQOL, the RP subjects had significantly worse urinary HRQOL post-operatively than the EBRT subjects (P < 0.001). The scores for sexual function declined over the 60 months, but more so in the RP group. The two groups showed similar bowel HRQOL scores throughout the follow-up periods.


CONCLUSIONS
Both primary treatments for cT3PC can offer satisfactory functional outcomes from the HRQOL perspective, except for a persistent decrease in the sexual activity score. These results may guide the treatment selection and clinical management of patients with HRQOL impairments after treatment for cT3PC.
Namiki
Shunichi
S
Department of Urology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1 Seiryomachi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8574, Japan. namikin@uro.med.tohoku.ac.jp
Tochigi
Tatsuo
T
Ishidoya
Shigeto
S
Ito
Akihiro
A
Numata
Isao
I
Arai
Yoichi
Y
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality / Q000639:trends; D011184:Postoperative Period; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology* / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome