Dados do Trabalho

Título

QUALITY OF LIFE OF PATIENTS WITH LOCALLY ADVANCED UTERINE CERVICAL CANCER SUBMITTED TO CURATIVE TREATMENT

Introdução

Women with cervical cancer commonly experience daily physical, psychological and social suffering that cannot be easily attributed to the disease. There is a lack of information regarding this subject in low-middle income countries.

Objetivo

To evaluate the effect of radiotherapy on the quality of life (QoL) of patients with locally advanced cervical cancer treated at a public educational institution.

Método

Prospective study including patients diagnosed with locally advanced cervical cancer treated with curative intent with chemoradiation or radiotherapy alone, all submitted to brachytherapy (2D or 3D). Demographic and clinical data were collected. QoL was assessed using the questionnaires EORTC QLQ-C30 (general) and EORTC QLQ-CX24 (specific for cervical cancer) applied at five different times: M0- Moment pre-treatment, M1 at 30 days, M3, three months, M6, six months and M12, 1 year after treatment, respectively. The QoL scores were evaluated by analysis of variance of measures (ANOVA), and the scores changes over time were tested.

Resultados

Between January 2019 and January 2021, 77 out of 83 recruited patients who met the inclusion criteria were analyzed. We present the results of the first 40 patients with the M0-M12 flow completed. The mean age was 48.9 years (29 to 76 years). There was a predominance of patients without complete primary education, single or separated/divorced, reporting white race and catholic or evangelical. Most had 2 to 4 pregnancies and 2 to 4 births. The most frequent histological type was squamous cell carcinoma (65%), and stage IIb predominated (35%). The majority (52.5%) had no clinical comorbidities or a family history of cancer. Karnofsky performance status was less than 80% in only 2 patients and 85% reported no pain. The QoL analyzes showed a significant (p < 0.05) increase in physical function, a reduction in symptoms such as nausea and vomiting, and a tendency towards a reduction in financial difficulty reported in M0 in relation to M1. There was an improvement in body image and, in relation to sexual function, there was a trend towards increased activity, but in only 4 patients who were sexually active. There was no difference in the mean scores of global health and symptoms between the analyzed periods.

Conclusão

The results, although preliminary, are promising, demonstrating a QoL improvement after months of treatment completion.

Palavras-chave

Cervical cancer , Quality of Life, Radiotherapy

Área

Radioterapia