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

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Abstract

Purpose

The aim of the present study is to investigate the effects of radiotherapy (RT) on quality of life (QoL) and influencing factors.

Methods

Data 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.

Results

Median 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, and sexual interest in male 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.

Conclusion

Although 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.

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Availability of Data and Materials

Data can be requested through email to the corresponding author.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiation Oncology, Meram Medical School, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey

    Berrin Benli Yavuz, Meryem Aktan & Gul Kanyilmaz

  2. Department of Public Health and Biostatistics, Meram Medical School, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey

    Lutfi Saltuk Demir

Authors
  1. Berrin Benli Yavuz
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  2. Meryem Aktan
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  3. Gul Kanyilmaz
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  4. Lutfi Saltuk Demir
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Berrin Benli Yavuz, Meryem Aktan, Gul Kanyilmaz, and Lutfi Saltuk Demir. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Berrin Benli Yavuz, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Berrin Benli Yavuz.

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Ethics Approval

All procedures were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Ethics committee approval was obtained prior to the study.

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Written informed consent was obtained from all patients participated in the study.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Benli Yavuz, B., Aktan, M., Kanyilmaz, G. et al. Assessment of Quality of Life Following Radiotherapy in Patients with Rectum Cancer. J Gastrointest Canc 53, 502–510 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12029-022-00807-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12029-022-00807-1

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