Quality of life in breast cancer patients over the age of 65 years after organ-sparing treatment with or without radiation therapy

Abstract

Objective. To study the impact of radiation therapy (RT) after organ-sparing surgery (OSS) for breast cancer (BC) on quality of life (QoL) in patients over the age of 65 years. Subjects and methods. The investigation enrolled 133 patients with Stage IA BC who underwent OSS. The patients were divided into 2 groups: 1) patients who had received RT after surgical treatment; 2) those who had not. All the patients included in the investigation received adjuvant hormone therapy for ≥5 years. The mean follow-up period was 61.77±20.10 months. QoL was comparatively assessed using the EORTC QLQ-C30 Version 3 and EORTC QLQ-BR23 questionnaires. Results. The scores on functional and symptom scales and those on the EORTC QLQ-C30 V.3 Global health status/QoL were statistically comparable in the examined groups (p > 0.05). Statistically significant differences between the groups were obtained in assessing the EORTC QLQ-BR23 Body image (BRBI). Arm symptoms (BRAS), and Breast symptoms (BRBS) (p0.05). Conclusion. After CCA with and without RT, the patients older than 65 years showed no significant differences in the assessment of QoL using the Global health status/QoL symptom, functional, and BRFU scales. QoL assessment using BRBI, BRBS, and BRAS demonstrated lower scores in the RT group. Thus, it may be concluded that RT does not worsen the overall QoL in patients, whereas it exerts local side effects in the area of irradiated tissues.