QUALITY-OF-LIFE ASSESSMENT OF APPLIED THERAPY TO BREAST CANCER PATIENTS

Abstract

Objective:Quality-of-Life (QoL) has an important role for breast cancer patients when considering long life expectancy. The main purpose of this study is evaluating the impact of hormonal therapy upon QoL, which is applied after radiotherapy, in the light of realistic data.Materials and Methods:The breast cancer patients treated with adjuvant radiotherapy at Ege University Hospital between January 2007 and December 2009 were evaluated for this trial after obtaining their informed consent FACT-Gv4 and FACT-ESv4 FACT-ES questionnaires were used for QoL evaluations. Obtained surveys were evaluated with the original guide of FACT.Results:A body mass index of over 30 was used as the obesity limit. There was a statistical significance between social well-being score and obesity (p=0.028). Functional well-being scores were statistically better for the patients without co-morbid disease (p=0.018). Endocrine subscale scores were deteriorated during hormonal therapy but they presented some increase in second evaluation but they did not reach basal levels (p=0.000 for all parameters).Conclusion:The diagnosis of breast cancer is affecting QoL independently of the applied treatment. When considering this, post-diagnosis and/or pretreatment physiological support is very important. Methods of treatment and the patient’s demographic data are important factors that may affect the QoL. Assessment of QoL has an important role in terms of patient compliance to disease and treatment. For breast cancer patients who have a long life expectancy, multi-institutional QoL researches are needed for presenting the patient’s beliefs and adherences to their therapy. We can provide more detailed and clear information with the help of future researches.

Keywords

• breast cancer
• endocrine
• therapy
• quality of life