ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Radiotherapy can diminish quality of life (QoL) for prostate cancer patients. Our objective was to evaluate the effect of radiotherapy on QoL in men aged 75 years or older treated with radiotherapy for a localized prostate cancer, and to identify predictors of reduced QoL. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We prospectively administered a battery of geriatric (MNA, GDS, Get up and Go Test, CIRS-G, ADL, IADL, MMSE), toxicity (IPSS; IIEF 5), and QoL (QLQ C30) screening tests in 100 elderly patients before and two months after prostate cancer radiotherapy (NCT 02876237). Patients ≥ 75 years undergoing radiotherapy with a curative intent for localized prostate cancer with or without androgen deprivation therapy (ADL) were eligible for study inclusion. Correlations between patient-assessed QoL and tumor characteristics, radiotherapy treatment or CGA parameters were sought using the Fisher or the Mann and Whitney tests. Changes in QoL parameters over time were analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. RESULTS: At study entry, scores for IADL impairments were present in 51%, reduced autonomy in activities of daily living in 16%, cognitive impairment found in 20%, depression-related symptoms in 31%, and 66% of patients had significant co-morbidities. Eight percent were judged to be at risk of fall and 2% were found to be undernourished. Severely impaired (IPSS ≥ 20) urinary function was observed in 11.2% and 13.5% of patients before and two months after completion of radiotherapy respectively. Significantly decreased QoL (> 20 points) at two months after treatment was found in 13% of patients and a moderate but clinically relevant reduction (10 to 20 points) in 17% of patients. No tumor characteristic, treatment, or oncogeriatric parameter was predictive of reduced QoL following prostate cancer radiotherapy. CONCLUSION: Despite sometimes markedly diminished oncogeriatric parameters, prostate cancer radiotherapy was generally well tolerated in these elderly patients. We found no predictive factor to determine which patients would experience impaired quality of life following radiotherapy.
Subject(s)
Geriatric Assessment , Prostatic Neoplasms/radiotherapy , Quality of Life , Radiotherapy , Activities of Daily Living , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Comorbidity , Humans , Male , Prospective StudiesABSTRACT
Despite current advancements in the field, management of older prostate cancer patients still remains a big challenge for Geriatric Oncology. The International Society of Geriatric Oncology (ISGO) has recently updated its recommendations in this area, and these have been widely adopted, notably by the European Association of Urology. This article outlines the principles that should be observed in the management of elderly patients who have recently undergone prostatectomy for malignancy or with a biochemical relapse following prostatectomy. Further therapeutic intervention should not be considered in those patients who are classified as frail in the geriatric assessment. In patients presenting better health conditions, salvage radiotherapy is to be preferred to adjuvant radiotherapy, which is only indicated in certain exceptional cases. Radiotherapy of the operative bed presents a higher risk to the elderly. Additionally, hormone therapy clearly shows higher side effects in older patients and therefore it should not be administered to asymptomatic patients. We propose a decision tree based on the ISGO recommendations, with specific modifications for patients in biochemical relapse.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The end of life for cancer patients is the ultimate stage of the disease, and care in this setting is important as it can improve the wellbeing not only of patients, but also the patients' family and close friends. As it is a matter of profoundly personal concerns, patients' perception of this phase of the disease is difficult to assess and has thus been insufficiently studied. Nonetheless, caregivers are required to provide specific care to help patients and to treat them in order to improve their wellbeing during this period.While tools to assess health-related quality of life (QoL) in cancer patients at the end of life exist in English, to our knowledge, no validated tools are available in French. METHODS/DESIGN: This randomized multicenter cohort study will be carried out to cross-culturally adapt and validate a French version of the English QUAL-E and the Missoula Vitas Quality Of Life Index (MVQOLI) questionnaires for advanced cancer patients in a palliative setting. A randomized clinical trial component in addition to a cohort study is implemented in order to test psychometric hypotheses: order effect and improvement of sensibility to change.The validation procedure will ensure that the psychometric properties are maintained.The main criterion to assess the reliability of the questionnaires will be reproducibility (test-retest method) using intraclass correlation coefficients. It will be necessary to include 372 patients. The sensitivity to change, discriminant capability as well as convergent validity will be also investigated. DISCUSSION: If the cross-cultural validation of the MVQOLI and QUAL-E questionnaires for advanced cancer patients in a palliative setting have satisfactory psychometric properties, it will allow us to assess the specific dimensions of QoL at the end of life. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Current Controlled Trials NCT01545921.
