Quality of life and its correlates after pelvic exenteration for gynecologic cancer.

93 Background: Pelvic exenteration (PE) has been performed historically in women with gynecologic cancer for palliation of recurrent disease. With advances in operative methods, PE in the well-selected patient can produce 5-year survival rates as high as 60%. Despite a recent increase in rate of PE performed with curative intent, there is a paucity of data on its long-term physical and emotional effects. We sought to characterize women’s long-term quality of life (QOL) and its correlates after PE for recurrent gynecologic cancer. Methods: We conducted a mixed methods study combining quantitative measurement of QOL and its demographic, clinical and psychological correlates with concurrent qualitative assessment to probe women’s cognitive and behavioral responses to PE. Results: From 2005 to 2014, 85 women underwent PE at our institution; 44% were still alive at study initiation. Among eligible women, 72% completed their participation. Mean age of the sample at time of study participation was 57.3 (SD = 9.5) years (range = 43 to 75) and median time since surgery was 3.0 years (range = .9 to 8). Women’s self-reported global QOL score was average (54.4 (23); range = 33.3 to 100) and the relationship between QOL and current age or time since surgery was not significant (p > .05). Women reported mild sleep disturbance, mild to moderate pain, moderate fatigue and anxiety and severe depressive symptoms. All of the women exceeded the cut-off for clinically significant depressive symptoms. Qualitatively, women described profound negative changes in their physical and emotional well-being after PE. In nearly all of the women, the extended survival after PE helped to buffer the effects of these changes. Conclusions: Results suggest women’s health-related QOL may return to, or near, pre-surgical levels in long-term survivorship but that symptom control is suboptimal. Findings should facilitate more informed decision making prior to PE and suggest targets for clinical intervention to enhance QOL and improve symptom control after PE. This study highlights the need for more comprehensive assessments pre- and post-PE to examine the effects of disease- and PE-related variables, cultural norms and social support on patient-reported outcomes.