Health-related quality of life of patients with brain metastases selected for stereotactic radiosurgery

Eline Verhaak, Karin Gehring*, Patrick E J Hanssens, Margriet M Sitskoorn

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)
60 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Purpose: 

Information on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of patients with brain metastases (BM) before stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is very relevant to improve communication between patients and clinicians and to be able to interpret changes in HRQoL after SRS. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and severity of complaints on different aspects of pre-SRS HRQoL among patients with BM and to identify predictors thereof.

Methods: 

Patients with 1-10 newly diagnosed BM, expected survival > 3 months, Karnofsky Performance Status ≥ 70, and scheduled to undergo SRS were included. HRQoL was measured with the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Brain (FACT-Br) questionnaire. One-sample z-tests were conducted to analyze differences between patients with BM and published normative data of a general adult sample and of an adult cancer sample. Multiple regression analyses were run to identify predictors of pre-SRS HRQoL.

Results: 

On the individual level, most patients with BM (57.6% of 92 included patients) reported complaints regarding emotional well-being. As a group, patients with BM reported significantly lower emotional well-being compared to both control groups and significantly higher social well-being compared to the general population. Worse psychological factors, e.g. physical fatigue, depression, mental fatigue and anxiety, predicted aspects of pre-SRS HRQoL.

Conclusions: 

An increased understanding of pre-SRS HRQoL and predictors hereof, provides us with more insight into the well-being of our patients with BM and is necessary for the interpretation of (changes in) HRQoL after SRS.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)537-546
JournalJournal of Neuro-Oncology
Volume143
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019

Keywords

  • Brain metastases
  • CANCER-PATIENTS
  • Cancer
  • DEPRESSION
  • FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT
  • Gamma knife radiosurgery
  • HOSPITAL ANXIETY
  • Health-related quality of life
  • NORMATIVE DATA
  • PSYCHOSOCIAL INTERVENTIONS
  • Patient-reported outcome measures
  • Radiosurgery
  • SCALE
  • VALIDATION

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Health-related quality of life of patients with brain metastases selected for stereotactic radiosurgery'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this