Quality of Life After Esophagectomy for Cancer: An Assessment Using the Questionnaire with the Face Scale

Abstract

Purpose. The face scale has not been used as a global parameter of quality of life (QOL). The aims of this study were to assess the QOL of patients after esophagectomy for cancer and to examine whether a face scale is useful as a global parameter of QOL.

Method. Seventy-one patients without postoperative recurrence after curative esophagectomy answered the questionnaire with the face scale and food intake. We calculated the QOL score (its full mark: 85) and examined the correlation between the QOL score and other parameters including the face scale.

Result. The duration of the postoperative period ranged from 8 to 253 months (median 87 months). Gastric pullups at the left cervix were selected in 66 patients. The retrosternal route was performed in 55 patients. The mean QOL score was 64.2 (range 33–84). There was the significant positive correlation between QOL score and the face scale (P < 0.0001). The quantity of meal intake decreased in 55 patients (77.55%) by more than 50% compared with their healthy state. About a half of the subjects still suffered from the swallowing problems and a decreased food intake.

Conclusion. The face scale is correlative with the total QOL score after an esophagectomy and is useful as a global parameter of the QOL.