Quality of life after pancreatic resection for malignant and benign disease - a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Introduction: To investigate QOL trajectories following pancreatic resection for malignant or benign disease. Methods: Consecutive patients of six upper gastrointestinal surgeons who underwent pancreatic resection at one of six hospitals in Sydney, Australia between Apr-2014 and Apr-2019 were invited to participate. The main outcome was self-reported QOL using the Short Form 36 (SF-36v2) expressed as mental (MCS) and physical component scores (PCS) with values ranging from 0-100 and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy - Hepatobiliary (FACT-Hep) expressed as a total score, with values ranging from 0-180. Higher scores indicate better QOL. QOL outcomes were measured at < 12, 12-23, 24-35, 36-47 and ≥48 months post-surgery. Differences at each timepoint were compared with ANOVA and multiple pairwise comparisons were made using the Bonferroni correction. Results: Of 224 invited patients, 121 (54%) responded. Mean (SD) age was 68.0 (11.9) years and 52% (n=63) were male. Malignancy was the indication for surgery in 78% (n=94), 63% (n=74) of participants underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy and 57% (n=69) were between 12 and 35 months from surgery. No difference in the PCS and total FACT-Hep score was observed for the studied period. A significant increase on the MCS was observed from < 12 month to 12-23 months postoperatively (mean difference: 9.4; 95%CI: 1.1to17.1); No difference on MCS was noted on any other time points (Figure 1). Conclusions: MCS improved significantly from < 12 months to 12-23 months. No further significant changes were observed in MCS, PCS and total FACT-Hep scores over time compared to baseline.