Comparison of quality of life (QoL) in survivors of testicular nonseminomatous germ cell tumor (NSGCT) with age-matched controls using EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire.

Abstract

413 Background: Testicular NSGCT is typically diagnosed in young males, and is a highly curable cancer. Data pertaining to the quality of life of testicular NSGCT survivors are limited. Methods: Patients aged 18 or more years with a diagnosis of testicular NSGCT treated in a large tertiary care centre in New Delhi, India between January 2015 and July 2019 were eligible to participate. Patients had to be disease free for at least two years for QoL assessment using EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire. Raw scores were transformed as per the EORTC scoring manual. Controls were healthy age-matched adults recruited from the patient accompanying population. Results: We identified 55 survivors and 100 controls. Median age was 32 (range, 18-65) years and 58.2% of patients stage III disease, while the rest were equally divided in stage I and II. Chemotherapy was administered in 94% patients, while 25% had retroperitoneal lymph node resection for residual disease and relapse occurred in 11%, who were treated with salvage chemotherapy and resection of the residual disease. Emotional, social and global scores were significantly lower in survivors as compared to controls. Among symptom scales, fatigue, pain, dyspnoea, insomnia, appetite loss, and financial difficulty were significantly increased in patients as compare to survivors (Table). On a multivariate analysis, neither stage of disease nor treatment were found to be associated significantly with QOL scores. Conclusions: Survivors of testicular NSGCT have lower emotional, social and global functioning and a higher symptom burden. Since NSGCT affects young males, aggressive measures may be needed to improve the QoL in such patients.[Table: see text]