Quality of life in patients with bone tumors, a comparison between different treatments

Introduction. Previously, amputation was the only treatment option for patients with malignant bone tumors. Due to technological, medical and surgical advances, the number of survivors and years of survival has been increasing, and thus, the interest in evaluating the impact of this disease on quality of life. Objective. To evaluate the health related quality of life reported by patients with bone tumors under-going different treatments (no surgery/amputation/salvage). Material and methods. Patients (n = 85) with bone tumors over the age of 18, both sexes, from the Instituto Nacional de Rehabilitacion of Mexico City were included, divided into three groups according to type of treatment. The study design was cross-sectional, descriptive of a nonrandom sample. Quality of life was assessed with the Inventory of Quality of Life and Health (InCaViSa). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, comparisons between patients with different treatments were evaluated with multivariate analysis of covariance and Sidak post hoc tests. Results. Statistically significant differences were detected in six of the twelve areas of quality of life that are assessed by the scale: physical functioning, isolation, body perception, treatment attitude leisure time and daily life. Health related quality of life in the study group is best for those patients who received amputation compared with the other treatments, while patients limb salvage procedures are those with greater impairment.