Sexual health and quality of life: Study on prostate cancer patients treated with modern 6MV X-ray radiation therapy

Abstract

This study aimed to compare the sexual quality of life through pre-defined parameters of prostate cancer (PCa) patients with pre-and-post- volumetric modulated arc radiation therapy (VMAT) and to examine their association with the radiation doses of the penile bulb (PB) and patient peculiarity. In this retrospective study, we analyzed medical record data of 100 patients who received definitive external radiation therapy (RT) and hormone therapy (HT) for prostate cancer (PCa) between June to December 2017. Sexual activities were analyzed by the patient-reported outcomes and clinician quality of life indices observed scale before and after treatment. The outcome of sexual activities was observed about patients' age, the volume of the prostate, the level of the testosterone, comorbidity, smoking habits, staging of the tumours, therapy technology, hormonal therapy (HT) and penile bulb (PB) radiation doses. 84 (84%) of all patients (n=100) after 2 years of radiation had a poor erectile grade, and 43 (75%) of previously potent (n=57) patients were impotent following treatment. However, sexual desire prevailed in 59 (76%) of patients who had desire before treatment.