Quality of life in patients with cervical cancer FIGO IIb stage after concomitant chemoradiotherapy

Background. The literature reports are unclear regarding the quality of life in patients after the concomitant chemoradiotherapy. Our aim was to define and compare the quality of life of patients with cervical cancer FIGO IIb stage before and after the concomitant chemoradiotherapy. Methods. Nineteen patients were irradiated to 45 Gy in 25 fractions over 5 weeks to the pelvis and additional 20-24 Gy in 4-6 fractions were given by intracavitary high dosage rate (HDR) brachytherapy. Patients received 40 mg/m(2) of cisplatin once a week, starting from the first day of the intracavitary brachytherapy treatment, which is a total of 4-6 cycles of cisplatin. Patients were surveyed with two questionnaires for the assessment of the quality of life. They were developed by the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC): one was cancer specific (EORTC QLQ-C30) and one was site specific (EORTC QLQ-Cx24). Patients answered the questions for the period immediately before diagnosed cervical cancer (thus being a control group) and for the period starting 12 months after the completion of the concomitant chemoradiotherapy (thus being an experimental group). Results. A statistically significant difference between the median scores of these two groups has been found in the quality of life, role function, emotional function, social function, pain, fatigue and vaginal problems. Conclusions. The quality of life of patients with cervical cancer FIGO IIb stage was better after concomitant chemoradiotherapy than before it.