Quality of life after prostate cancer treatments in patients comparable at baseline

Abstract

Background:Previous studies on the effects of different prostate cancer treatments on quality of life, were confounded because patients were not comparable. This study examined treatment effects in more comparable groups.Methods:From 2008–2011, 240 patients with localised prostate cancer were selected to be eligible for both radical prostatectomy (RP) and external beam radiotherapy (EBRT). Brachytherapy (BT) was a third option for some. Health-related quality of life was measured by expanded prostate cancer index composite (EPIC) up to 12 months after treatment.Results:In the sexual domain, RP led to worse summary scores (P<0.001) and more often to a clinically relevant deterioration from baseline than BT and EBRT (79%, 33%, 34%, respectively). In the urinary domain, RP also led to worse summary scores (P=0.014), and more deterioration from baseline (41%, 12%, 19%, respectively). Only on the irritative/obstructive urinary scale, more BT patients (40%) showed a relevant deterioration than RP (17%) and EBRT patients (11%). In the bowel domain, the treatment effects did not differ.Conclusion:This study provides a more unbiased comparison of treatment effects, as men were more comparable at baseline. Our results suggest that, for quality of life, radiotherapy is as least as good an option as RP for treating localised prostate cancer.

A phase II study evaluating the toxicity and efficacy of single-agent temsirolimus in chemotherapy-naïve castration-resistant prostate cancer

“…Although there continues to be a debate as to what is the best measure to assess QoL, (Colloca and Colloca, 2011) establishing a consistent way of measuring QoL across trials will become increasingly important as more agents become available. Importantly, most QoL studies have generally focused on evaluating toxicities of early disease treatment (i.e., surgery, radiotherapy, ADT, and brachytherapy) (Hoskin et al , 2013; Komiya et al , 2013; Mc Caughan et al , 2013; van Tol-Geerdink et al , 2013) with fewer studies assessing the impact of cytotoxic chemotherapy (Caffo et al , 2011). Critically, as newer targeted agents become increasingly utilised in CRPC and as these agents have different toxicity profile than traditional chemotherapy, evaluating their impact on QoL will be essential moving forward.…”

Comparison of Late Urinary Symptoms Following SBRT and SBRT with IMRT Supplementation for Prostate Cancer

“…LUTS are classified as obstructive and irritative symptoms, excluding incontinence, measured by ease and strength of urine flow, urinary frequency, dysuria, nocturia, and urgency [8]. These symptoms are observed to worsen with radiation therapy and seem rather unique to this modality of treatment [9]. Furthermore, LUTS in men treated with radiation therapy are significantly worse compared to those who receive prostatectomy alone [10].…”

What is the mechanism effect that links social support to coping and psychological outcome within individuals affected by prostate cancer? Real time data collection using mobile technology

“…The disease and its treatments have the potential to cause substantial short-and long-term problems for men affected by prostate cancer (Davis et al, 2014). The delicate nature of treatments mean that men with prostate cancer often face a host of difficulties which can negatively affect Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) (van Tol-Geerdink et al, 2013), including physical and psychological problems (CockleHearne et al, 2013;Ream et al, 2008). Toxicities associated with prostate cancer treatments include: urinary (urgency, frequency, incontinence) (Zelefsky et al, 2008), bowel (rectal bleeding, urgency in defecation, diarrhoea, and faecal leakage) (Fransson et al, 2006) and sexual dysfunction (impotence, loss of libido) (Shikanov et al, 2008).…”