Strength of skeletal muscle and quality of life in patients suffering from “typical male” carcinomas

Abstract

Surprisingly, prostate cancer patients showed significantly higher values for muscular strength of thigh muscles than significant younger patients with head and neck cancer. Furthermore, prostate cancer patients revealed significantly better values in QOL subscales "bodily pain" and "physical functioning".

Strength of skeletal muscle and self-reported physical performance in Austrian glioblastoma-patients

“…Isokinetic testing was performed at an angular velocity of 60°/s. Isokinetic testing at 60°/s is suggested by the manufacturer for evaluation of maximal voluntary strength, and was proved to be useful and valid for assessing maximal muscular strength of cancer patients and other patients with severe diseases such as heart failure [13,[15][16][17].…”

“…In this study, patients filled in the subscales "physical functioning" and "role physical" of the German version of the SF-36 Health Survey [25]. Among the strengths of the SF-36 Health Survey is its applicability to many disease groups as well as the general population, so that it can be used to compare cancer patients with healthy populations [15,25]. Since most studies of HRQOL of cancer survivors lack either a noncancer control group or broad normative data on noncancer patients for comparisons, this seems to be a main advantage in attempting to sort out the effects of cancer on differences in HRQOL versus the influence of concomitant diseases and natural aging [15,25].…”

“…In order to reduce interrater variability, all tests were performed by the same physiatrists, who gave a moderate standardized verbal encouragement during the test [15,18]. Age-and sex-predicated values for isokinetic muscle strength of knee extensors were obtained from the Biodex System 3 Pro manual, and from prior reports [18,20].…”

“…After a relaxation period of a few minutes, test series started [18]. Two isokinetic sets of 5 reciprocal knee extension and flexion maximal contractions with an angular speed of 60°/s were performed [15,18]. Highest achieved value was used.…”

“…Based on the Biodex System 3 Pro manual and recommendations from a previous study on cancer patients by our group, the test protocols were established [15,18].…”