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A prospective study of the short‐term quality‐of‐life outcomes of patients undergoing transperineal prostate biopsy
Author(s) -
Dowrick Adam S.,
Wootten Addie C.,
Howard Nicholas,
Peters Justin S.,
Murphy Declan G.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
bju international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.773
H-Index - 148
eISSN - 1464-410X
pISSN - 1464-4096
DOI - 10.1111/bju.13413
Subject(s) - medicine , sexual function , quality of life (healthcare) , prostate cancer , prospective cohort study , international prostate symptom score , wilcoxon signed rank test , prostate biopsy , prostate , cancer , mann–whitney u test , lower urinary tract symptoms , nursing
Objective To investigate in a prospective, observational study whether transperineal prostate biopsy ( TP bx) results in patient‐reported quality‐of‐life (QoL) changes from baseline in the first 3‐months after TP bx. Patients and methods Consenting patients completed the 26‐item Expanded Prostate cancer Index Composite ( EPIC ‐26), the Sexual Health Inventory for Men, the International Prostate Symptom Score, the Generalised Anxiety Disorder seven‐item scale, the Patient Health Questionnaire nine‐item scale, and a global question about willingness to have a repeat TP bx in a years' time. The instruments were scored using published scoring methods. Wilcoxon signed–rank tests and Mann–Whitney U ‐tests were used to investigate statistically significant differences. Clinically significant differences were also investigated defined by published minimal important differences for the EPIC ‐26 and changes in established categorical groups for the other instruments. Results In all, 53 patients consented to participate and completed the baseline questionnaire, in addition to at least one of the 1‐ or 3‐month follow‐up questionnaires. We found that most patients having a TP bx had no clinically significant change in QoL in the first 3 months after TP bx. However, 24% had clinically worse urinary function and 18% had worse sexual function at 1 month. At 3 months, 3% of patients had clinically worse urinary function and 25% continued to have worse sexual function compared with baseline. Patients who were subsequently diagnosed with cancer based on the results of the TP bx, had statistically significantly reduced QoL for the EPIC ‐26 urinary scales and reduced improvements in scores on the psychological scales at the 1‐month follow‐up compared with those who were not diagnosed with cancer. Conclusions Most patients having a TP bx had no clinically significant change in QoL in the first 3 months after TP bx. However, patients should be advised that a quarter may have clinically worse urinary function and nearly 20% have clinically worse sexual function in the first month, and that sexual function deficits may continue up to 3 months. The results of this study provide a resource that the clinician can use when discussing TP bx with patients.