title: Health-related quality of life after carbon-ion radiotherapy for prostate cancer: a 3-year prospective study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess 3-year health-related quality of life of patients treated with carbon ion radiotherapy for prostate cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 213 patients received carbon-ion radiotherapy at a total dose of 66 Gy equivalent in 20 fractions over 5 weeks, and neoadjuvant and adjuvant androgen deprivation therapy were administered for high-risk patients for at least 12 months. A health-related quality of life assessment was carried out at four time-points (immediately before the initiation of carbon-ion radiotherapy, immediately after, 12 and 36 months after completion of carbon-ion radiotherapy) using Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy General and for Prostate Cancer Patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The evaluable response rates among all responses were more than 94%. Overall, a significant decrease in the scores of the health-related quality of life 12 months after carbon-ion radiotherapy returned to their baseline levels at 36 months. Additionally, no significant decrease was observed in the scores at any of the assessment time-points compared with their baseline scores in the group of carbon-ion radiotherapy without androgen deprivation therapy; however, the presence of morbidity and biochemical failure significantly worsened the scores, and the decreases in the scores did not improve even at 36 months after carbon-ion radiotherapy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  An assessment based on a subjective scoring system shows a significant decrease in health-related quality of life at 12 months after carbon-ion radiation therapy, which tends to return to baseline levels at 36 months. The presence of morbidity and biochemical failure significantly worsen health-related quality of life scores. Further controlled studies focusing on health-related quality of life assessment in patients with prostate cancer are warranted.
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Charged Particle Therapy, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, Inage, Chiba, Japan; Gunma Heavy-ion Medical Center, Gunma University, Maebashi, Gunma, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Katoh
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tsuji
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.forename: Tadashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kamada
authors.forename: Masaru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wakatsuki
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hirasawa
authors.forename: Hiroyoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Koichiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Akakura
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakano
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shimazaki
authors.forename: Hirohiko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tsujii
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000726:Androgen Antagonists / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes / Q000627:therapeutic use; D059186:Chemoradiotherapy, Adjuvant / Q000379:methods*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007610:Kallikreins / Q000097:blood; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009017:Morbidity; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011446:Prospective Studies; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000097:blood; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D011788:Quality of Life; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D000726:Androgen Antagonists; D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; C549870:KLK3 protein, human; D007610:Kallikreins; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen
keywords: androgen deprivation therapy; biochemical failure; carbon-ion radiotherapy; health-related quality of life; morbidity