Quality of life in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma: Assessment of long-term survivors

Courtney Carmichael, Bertram E. Yuh, Virginia Sun, Clayton Lau, Joann Hsu, Junmi Saikia, Xueli Liu, Timothy Wilson, Betty Ferrell, Sumanta Kumar Pal

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: An emerging literature describes the potential for long-term survival with targeted agents, but the health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) in patients who receive chronic therapy with these agents is poorly defined. Methods: From an institutional database including 562 patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC), patients were identified who (1) were alive 3 years beyond initiation of systemic therapy for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) and (2) received a targeted therapy as a component of their treatment. European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 36 (QLQ-C30) and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Kidney Symptom Index (FKSI-15) questionnaires were administered by telephone survey. Data from questionnaires were compared with historical estimates derived from pivotal studies evaluating targeted agents. Results: A total of 38 patients met eligibility criteria for the study, and 28 patients participated in the telephone survey. Most were male patients and had clear cell histologic type (75% for both). All patients had either good- or intermediate-risk disease by Heng criteria. The mean QLQ-C30 Global QOL score in the present cohort was higher than the mean score among patients evaluated at baseline in the phase III evaluations of pazopanib (73.5 vs. 65.8; P =.07) and everolimus (73.5 vs. 61.0; P =.007). The FKSI-15 score in the present cohort was similar to the mean score among patients evaluated at baseline in the phase III evaluation of sunitinib (45.1 and 46.5, respectively; P =.41). Conclusion: In this small pilot study, long-term survivors with mRCC who received targeted therapies appear to have an HR-QOL comparable to that of patients who participated in relevant phase III studies. Given the many emerging treatment options for mRCC, the HR-QOL of long-term survivors warrants greater attention.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)149-154
Number of pages6
JournalClinical Genitourinary Cancer
Volume11
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2013
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Metastatic
  • Quality of life
  • Renal cell carcinoma
  • Targeted therapy

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Oncology
  • Urology

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