Abstract
With the poor prognosis of pancreatic cancer and the high rate of postoperative complications after pancreaticoduodenectomy, it is important to evaluate how the operation affects patients' quality of life. This single-centre study included all patients undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy from 2006 to 2016. Quality of life was measured with two questionnaires preoperatively, and at 6 and 12 months postoperatively. Comparisons between groups were made using a linear mixed models analysis. Of 279 patients planned for pancreaticoduodenectomy, 245 underwent the operation. The postoperative response rates were all 80% or more. Differences were found in one domain between the early and late time periods and three domains between patients receiving and not receiving adjuvant chemotherapy. No significant differences were found between patients with and without severe postoperative complications. However, the demographic variables of age group, sex, preoperative diabetes and smoking all exerted a significant impact on postoperative quality of life. While little or no impact was shown for the factors of postoperative complications, time period and adjuvant chemotherapy, demographic data, such as age, sex, preoperative diabetes and smoking, had considerable impacts on postoperative quality of life after pancreaticoduodenectomy.
Highlights
Pancreatic cancer is a disease with poor prognosis, being surgically resectable in only approximately 20% of patients and with a median survival of 18–29 months after resection.[1]
Few differences were shown in health-related quality of life between the early and late time periods and between patients receiving or not receiving adjuvant chemotherapy
No significant differences were registered between patients with major postoperative complications and patients with no or minor complications
Summary
Pancreatic cancer is a disease with poor prognosis, being surgically resectable in only approximately 20% of patients and with a median survival of 18–29 months after resection.[1]. With the poor prognosis of the disease and the large impact of surgery, it is important to consider how treatment affects patients’ quality of life. With the poor prognosis of pancreatic cancer and the high rate of postoperative complications after pancreaticoduodenectomy, it is important to evaluate how the operation affects patients’ quality of life. Differences were found in one domain between the early and late time periods and three domains between patients receiving and not receiving adjuvant chemotherapy. The demographic variables of age group, sex, preoperative diabetes and smoking all exerted a significant impact on postoperative quality of life. Conclusion: While little or no impact was shown for the factors of postoperative complications, time period and adjuvant chemotherapy, demographic data, such as age, sex, preoperative diabetes and smoking, had considerable impacts on postoperative quality of life after pancreaticoduodenectomy. Among the patients with pancreatic cancer, a higher percentage had a tumour stage of 2 B or higher in the second period (Table 2)
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