Abstract
Background: Surgery is the only treatment that is expected to cure pancreatic cancer but is very invasive. It usually causes severe stress in patients and may cause pain and deterioration of quality of life (QOL). Aim: To determine the level of health-related QOL (HRQOL) and symptoms of pancreatic cancer patients 3 months after surgical intervention. Materials and Methods: We statistically evaluated the correlation between the Short Form 36 Health Survey version 2 (SF-36v2), a scale of HRQOL, and specific symptoms of hepatobiliary and pancreatic cancer using data acquired from 33 postoperative pancreatic cancer patients. Results: Deterioration of QOL was seen in many parameters of SF-36v2 at 3 months postoperatively. In particular, significant impairments of QOL at 3 months postoperatively were observed for physical functioning, vitality, physical role functioning and emotional role functioning in patients who underwent subtotal stomach-preserving pancreatoduodenectomy. Our data also revealed that appetite loss, general fatigue, discomfort or pain in the stomach area and discontent with change in appearance correlated with QOL deterioration. Conclusion: QOL can be improved by a combination of treatments for symptoms related to digestion and absorption, management of nutrition and treatment for subjective symptoms including fatigue.
