Health-Related Quality of Life After Radical Prostatectomy
Posted: Thursday, June 28, 2018
For patients with prostate cancer facing a decision about surgery versus active surveillance, health-related quality of life information related to radical prostatectomy may be valuable, according to a study by Jinsung Park, MD, of the Eulji University School of Medicine, Daejeon, Korea, and colleagues. The researchers investigated changes in health-related quality-of-life in patients with prostate cancer who underwent open, laparoscopic, or robotic radical prostatectomy and compared health-related quality of life of disease-free survivors with that of the general population. These findings were presented at the 2018 American Urological Association Annual Meeting (Abstract MP05-01) and published in The Journal of Urology.
In this prospective longitudinal cohort study of 209 patients, 41 had open surgery, 63 had laparoscopic surgery, and 105 underwent robotic surgery. Compared with baseline, physical, emotional, and cognitive functioning significantly improved at 12 months. Of note, urinary symptoms and incontinence aid recovered at 12 months, whereas sexual activity and sexual function remained poor at 12 months. Clinically meaningful differences in health-related quality of life were not observed according to radical prostatectomy modalities.
“Our findings,” concluded the researchers, “have the potential to assist patients to make truly informed decisions around surgical treatment for prostate cancer.”
