Assessment of patient-reported clinical outcome in pancreatic and other hepatobiliary cancers: The FACT hepatobiliary symptom index

This study's aim was to develop and validate a symptom. index derived from the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Hepatobiliary, a questionnaire measuring general and hepatobiliary disease specific aspects of quality of life. The item pool was narrowed to 26 questions that assess symptoms and junction. Each of 95 hepatobiliary cancer experts narrowed the list to 5 of the most important to attend to when treating advanced, hepatobiliar disease. Eight symptoms were endorsed by more than. 20% of the experts (3 pain, 2 fatigue, nausea, weight loss, jaundice) and were named the FACT-Hepatobiliary Symptom Index-8 (FHSI-8). Among 51 hepatobiliary cancer patients, the FHS1-8 showed good internal consistency (0.79), test-retest reliability (r = 0.86), strong association with mood (r = -0.56), and patient differentiation by ECOG Performance Status Rating (P < 0.0001) and treatment status (P = 0.057). Symptom scaling in diseases such as hepatobiliary cancer is feasible and efficient, clinically-relevant endpoint for following groups over time.