Assessment of Quality of Life Following Radiotherapy in Patients With Rectum Cancer

Abstract PurposeThe aim of the present study is to investigate the effects of radiotherapy (RT) on quality of life (QoL) and influencing factors.MethodsData of 106 patients who completely filled out the three questionnaires were evaluated in this prospective study. Quality of life was evaluated with cancer-specific QLQ-C30 and colorectal cancer module QLQ-CR29 created by European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC). All statistical analyses were done with SPSS version 22 software. A p level of <0.05 was accepted as statistically significant.ResultsMedian age was 61 (27-86). Of the patients, 77 (72.6%) were male and 29 (27.4%) were female. When QLQ-C30 questionnaires were evaluated, it was observed that physical, role, cognitive and emotional function scores were impaired following RT however returned to pre-RT levels on control. According to the results of QLQ-CR29 questionnaire, after RT, impairment was observed in urination frequency, urinary incontinence, stool frequency, dysuria, fecal incontinence, embarrassment, sexual interest in males scales however they returned to pre-RT values on control. When evaluated with regard to age, financial difficulty, global health score, mucus in stool, dysuria, dyspareunia and abdominal pain were observed to be poorer in the young; urination frequency and urinary incontinence were observed to be poorer in the elderly. ConclusionAlthough both functional and symptom scales were shown to impair, most of them were detected to be temporal and patients could well tolerate radiotherapy. Additional assessment is required for evaluating the late effects of treatments on QoL.