Radiotherapy Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Radiotherapy, including details on cancer treatment, side effects.

Disease-specific quality of life among patients with localized prostate cancer: an Australian perspective.

Newton FJ, Burney S, Millar JL, Frydenberg M, Ng KT

School of Psychology, Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Australia.

OBJECTIVES: To examine differences in sexual, urinary and bowel function, and bother, in patients with prostate cancer after treatment with radical prostatectomy (RP) or external beam radiation (EBRT), compared to a convenience sample of men with no diagnosis of prostate cancer, as little is known about the disease-specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of men in Australia after treatment for clinically localized prostate cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study was a retrospective cross-sectional survey of 95 controls, 82 men with localized prostate cancer treated with RP and 39 with EBRT at > or = 2 years before data were collected. Disease-specific HRQoL was assessed using the University of California Los Angeles Prostate Cancer Index, a validated measure that includes six subscales addressing sexual, urinary and bowel symptoms, and level of bother associated with the symptoms. Univariate analyses were conducted to ascertain differences in disease-specific HRQoL among the three groups. To minimize the influence of other factors, age and comorbid medical conditions were included as covariates. RESULTS: Men treated with RP had more sexual and urinary symptoms (both P < 0.001) than those treated with EBRT, and more sexual bother (P < 0.001). Men treated with EBRT reported significantly worse bowel function (P = 0.02) and more bother (P < 0.001) with these symptoms than those who had RP. CONCLUSIONS: Except for bowel dysfunction and the bother associated with these symptoms, disease-specific HRQoL was generally worse after RP than EBRT.

Published 11 May 2006 in BJU Int, 97(6): 1179-83.
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