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Quality of life and psychosocial status in stage D prostate cancer

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Abstract

Inasmuch as treatments for advanced prostate cancer may have identical clinical outcomes but very different meanings to patients, we sought to compare the impact of surgical and medical castration (orchiectomy versus injected goserelin acetate Zoladex®) on quality of life and psychosocial status. A total of 147 men with Stage D prostate cancer participated in the study: 115 selected treatment with goserelin acetate, and 32 chose orchiectomy. Quality of life, as measured by the Functional Living Index: Cancer (FLIC), improved at both the 3 and the 6 month follow-up in the goserelin acetate group (p=0.0001), but did not change from baseline at 6 months in the orchiectomy group (p=0.54). These findings were paralleled by improvement from baseline in psychosocial status, as measured by the Profile of Mood States (POMS), at 6 month follow-up (p=0.01 in the goserelin acetate group versus p=0.60 in the orchiectomy group). This investigation, which is among the first to evaluate patients' appraisals of their lives following treatment choices for advanced prostatic cancer, argues compellingly for including quality of life in assessments of therapy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Behavioral Resources Corporation, 8033 Old NC 86, 27516, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    B. R. Cassileth

  2. University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA

    M. S. Soloway

  3. University of Chicago Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA

    N. J. Vogelzang

  4. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    J. M. Chou

  5. East Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, VA, USA

    P. D. Schellhammer

  6. Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    E. J. Seidmon

  7. ICI Pharma, Concord Pike and Murphy Road, 19897, Wilmington, DE, USA

    G. T. Kennealey (Director of Oncology Research)

Authors
  1. B. R. Cassileth
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  2. M. S. Soloway
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  3. N. J. Vogelzang
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  4. J. M. Chou
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  5. P. D. Schellhammer
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  6. E. J. Seidmon
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  7. G. T. Kennealey
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members of the Zoladex Prostate Cancer Study Group

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Cassileth, B.R., Soloway, M.S., Vogelzang, N.J. et al. Quality of life and psychosocial status in stage D prostate cancer. Qual Life Res 1, 323–330 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00434946

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00434946

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