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B. Stricker



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    MINI 15 - Chemotherapy Developments for Lung Cancer (ID 128)

    • Event: WCLC 2015
    • Type: Mini Oral
    • Track: Treatment of Advanced Diseases - NSCLC
    • Presentations: 1
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      MINI15.12 - Satisfaction with Therapy and the Relation with Quality of Life in Patients with Advanced NSCLC Receiving Chemotherapy (ID 2253)

      17:50 - 17:55  |  Author(s): B. Stricker

      • Abstract
      • Presentation
      • Slides

      Background:
      In advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) decisions regarding palliative treatment are based on tumor response, increasingly combined with patient reported outcomes, especially quality of life (QoL). However, considering treatment decisions in this manner ignores patients’ own opinion about (change in) QoL. A more patient-oriented view regarding therapy could offer valuable information in the process of shared decision-making about treatment initiation or continuation with chemotherapy. We assessed patients’ satisfaction with the received chemotherapy using the Cancer Therapy Satisfaction Questionnaire (CTSQ) in relation with QoL during treatment.

      Methods:
      In a prospective observational multi-center study, patients with stage IIIB or IV NSCLC receiving pemetrexed (PEM)-based chemotherapy as first or second line treatment were enrolled. Prior to and after four cycles of chemotherapy, patients completed the WHO Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQoL-BREF) and EORTC-Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 30 (EORTC-QLQ-C30), which both contain one item measuring overall QoL on a 1-5 and 1-7 scale, respectively. After four cycles patients also completed the CTSQ, which consists of 16 items scored on a 1-5 scale and is divided in three domains, including the domain satisfaction with therapy (SWT). Linear transformation of the domain score results in a score range 0-100, with a higher score representing a better treatment satisfaction. Items of special interest were Question 7 (Q7) “Chemotherapy was worth taking even with side effects”, Question 16 (Q16) “If given the choice again, would you decide to take this chemotherapy treatment” and Question 2 (Q2) “Chemotherapy would cure the cancer”. From all patients tumor response measurements were obtained according to RECIST 1.1.

      Results:
      Of the 88 patients receiving four cycles of PEM-based chemotherapy, 65 patients completed the WHOQoL-BREF, EORTC-QLQ-30 and the CTSQ. The majority of these patients had stage IV NSCLC (87.7%) and received PEM-based therapy as first line treatment (92.3%). Treatment resulted in stable disease (53.8%), partial response (40.0%) and progressive disease (6.2%). Eighteen patients often (13.8%) or always (13.8%) expected chemotherapy would cure the cancer. During therapy, overall QoL measured by WHOQoL-BREF increased (1.3±0.6), remained stable (0±0) and decreased (-1.4±0.7) in respectively 15 (23.1%), 30 (46.2%) and 20 (30.8%) patients. The SWT domain score (77.5±12.3 vs. 83.8±13.1) and single item scores Q7 (4.1±0.9 vs. 4.4±0.8) and Q16 (4.4±0.7 vs. 4.5±0.6) in patients with decrease vs. increase of overall QoL did not differ significantly between the groups (p> 0.05). Change in overall QoL measured by the EORTC-QLQ-C30 related to SWT, Q7 and Q16 showed similar results.

      Conclusion:
      Despite a decrease of QoL during chemotherapy, patients still consider the treatment as worth taking and would decide to receive the chemotherapy again. Since the majority of patients understand that the treatment has no curative intentions, it is unlikely that the satisfaction with treatment only reflects false expectations of cancer cure. Our results represent a group of patients who mainly established disease stabilization, which could have influenced our findings. In shared decision-making on palliative treatment, patients’ QoL cannot be used as a single decision criterion because it does not reflect patients’ satisfaction with treatment. This study is funded by ZonMw, the Netherlands

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