When Should Quality of Life be Measured after Radical Cystectomy?

Aim: In this prospective study our aim was to establish the time it takes cystectomized patients’ to adapt to their new health status. Materials and Method: A total of 68 patients, having radical cystectomy for bladder cancer (64 males and 4 females) were enrolled in the study. The mean age of the group was 55.4±8.0 years (range 38–70 years). Continent urinary diversion was applied to 17 while the rest had incontinent urinary diversions. There was no statistical difference between those who had continent and incontinent diversions in regard to pre-operative stage. All patients were given a Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI), an EORTC-QLQ C-30 Version 2 (European Organization for Research on Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire C-30 Version 2) quality of life measurement scale pre-operatively, and post-operatively 3, 6, 12 and >12 months (every 6 months). Log-rank and Student’s t-test was used for statistical analysis of the results. Results: The mean follow-up of the study group was 27.7±7.3 months (range 12–46 months). Five patients at the first 3rd-month control, seven at the 6th-month control and eight at the 12th-month control did not appear for interview, but their available results were also included in the overall assessment. The mean functional score of the study group, evaluated by QLQ C-30, was 80±25.4 pre-operatively. There is dramatic decrease at the 3rd-month control (56.9±25.1; p0.05). At the 12th-month and thereafter the symptom scores of the patients decreased significantly in comparison to both the pre-operative and the post-operative 3–6 months (23.4±13.7 and 21.8±18.5, respectively; p