THE QUALITY OF life for men who are diagnosed with prostate cancer varies by their primary treatment.
Prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among men in Ireland and there are more men living with prostate cancer than any other.
The National Cancer Registry has published a new paper in the Journal of Cancer Survivorship, from the PiCTure (Prostate Cancer Treatment, your experience) study.
One of the aims of the study was to investigate the long term health-related quality of life of prostate cancer survivors, who were between two and eighteen years post-diagnosis. With 3,348 participants, the study is one of the largest population-based studies of prostate cancer survivors internationally, and was funded by the Health Research Board Ireland and Prostate Cancer UK.
The researchers found that after controlling for socio-demographic and clinical factors, the overall quality of life of prostate cancer survivors varied significantly by primary treatment received. Compared to radical prostatectomy, survivors who received hormone therapy alone or radiotherapy without concurrent hormone therapy had significantly lower overall quality of life.
The overall quality of life of men who received brachytherapy, radiotherapy with concurrent hormone therapy, or active surveillance/watchful waiting was not significantly different from men treated with radical prostatectomy.
Overall, brachytherapy – which is a type of radiotherapy – was proven to give the highest overall quality of life.
Dr Sarah Cant, Director of Policy and Strategy at Prostate Cancer UK said the study gave an important insight into life after disease:
“The number of men living with and after prostate cancer is rapidly increasing. Understanding more about what life is really like for these men is crucial if we are to make sure all men with prostate cancer can make truly informed treatment choices, and achieve the best possible quality of life during and after their care.”
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