Sexual Health and Quality of Life Assessment among Ovarian Cancer Patients during Chemotherapy

Abstract

Background: During the last decades many successful efforts have been made in order to increase life expectancy in ovarian cancer (OC) patients. However, just a few studies have investigated the impact of OC on quality of life (QoL) and sexual function in OC cases during treatment. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the QoL and sexual function of OC patients during chemotherapy (CT). Patients and Methods: Forty-nine subjects were enrolled and filled in the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QLQ-OV28, Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) and Female Sexual Distress Scale (FSDS) questionnaires. The results were evaluated globally and consequently stratified into several groups: single surgery versus multiple surgeries, age ≤48 years versus >48 years, and first-line CT versus multiple lines of CT. Results: Menopause-related symptoms, body image and attitude toward the disease were significantly worse during first-line CT (p = 0.018, p = 0.029 and p = 0.006, respectively). Sexual outcomes resulted in better scores in younger patients in all questionnaires (FSFI: p = 0.001; FSDS: p = 0.048; specific EORTC QLQ-OV28 items: p = 0.022). Scores concerning body image, attitude toward the disease and CT-associated symptoms resulted worse in patients after the first surgery (p = 0.017, p = 0.002 and p = 0.012, respectively). Conclusion: Our study confirms that OC has a detrimental impact on QoL and intimacy, particularly in younger patients, during the first course of CT and after the first cytoreductive surgery.

Improvement in sexual function after ovarian cancer: Effects of sexual therapy and rehabilitation after treatment for ovarian cancer

“…The resulting sexual dysfunction from OC treatment is particularly severe, and it has been described as the “most enduringly compromised quality‐of‐life (QOL) issue” for this group of women. Because of the growing number of long‐term gynecological cancer survivors, including OC survivors, who may live for years on and off chemotherapy, there is a pressing need to address these sexual side effects of treatment that negatively affect the quality of life …”

“…Because of the growing number of long-term gynecological cancer survivors, 1 including OC survivors, who may live for years on and off chemotherapy, 7 there is a pressing need to address these sexual side effects of treatment that negatively affect the quality of life. 11 Despite recent calls to address sexual dysfunction for gynecological cancer survivors, there are no standardized treatments routinely recommended. In fact, the majority of gynecological cancer survivors report that sexual problems are rarely addressed by their providers.…”

Vaginal development and sexual functioning in young women after stem cell transplantation, chemotherapy, and/or radiotherapy for childhood hematological diseases

“…Baseline or pretransplantation depression, lack of desire, body image distortion, and anatomical damage are salient issues for patients after HSCT [20]. FSFI is the most used sexual function outcome measure, for research or clinical use, in healthy sexually active women [8], but also in subjects treated for breast [10], cervical [21,22], endometrial [22], and ovarian cancer [23]. FSFI had been used as a measure of sexual function in cohort of subjects after HSCT, including adult women with 6.5-year-median time elapsed from cancer diagnosis [24].…”

“…We used the FSDS to evaluate sexually related personal distress. FSDS score had been already used in breast and ovarian cancer survivors [10,23], reporting substantial sexual morbidity even years after treatment.…”

Comment on: “The consequences of gynaecological cancer in patients and their partners from the sexual and psychological perspective”

“…Indeed, the literature about this topic underlined that the type of cancer (endometrial, cervical, ovarian, or vulvar cancer) and the type of treatment (such as simple or radical hysterectomy, radiotherapy, and/or chemotherapy) may have different effects on the sexual health and quality of life of affected women [2, 3]. For example, ovarian cancer is responsible for more deaths than any other cancer of the female reproductive system, and the majority of patients present with advanced-stage disease [3–5]; therefore, it is associated with more serious consequences from a psychological point of view. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that radical surgery and radiation therapy may affect sexual functioning more negatively than less radical surgery [2, 6–8].…”