Quality of life for prostate cancer patients
June 11th, 2009 Posted in prostatectomy, radiation therapyA long-term study by researchers at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center found that the three most common treatments for localized prostate cancer had significant impacts on patients’ quality of life, a finding that could help guide doctors and patients in making treatment decisions.
The researchers studied the quality of life in men who either underwent radical prostatectomy, implantation of radioactive seeds in their prostate gland or had external beam radiation therapy. The three treatment options rank about equally in survival outcomes for most men, so specific impacts on quality of life become paramount in making treatment decisions.
The study found that urinary incontinence was more common among patients who underwent prostatectomy than those who had seed implants, called brachytherapy, or external beam radiation. Sexual dysfunction was found in patients in all three treatment groups. Surgery patients were less likely to regain baseline sexual function than were patients who underwent external beam radiation. Bowel dysfunction and irritable bladder were more common after either form of radiation therapy than after prostatectomy.
The study appeared June 9 in the early online edition of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.