Short-term moderate-dose pelvic radiotherapy of advanced bladder carcinoma. A questionnaire-based evaluation of its symptomatic effect.

Thirty-nine patients with advanced bladder cancer received pelvic radiotherapy (3 Gy x 10 during 2 weeks) with palliative aim. Except for improvement of urinary incontinence, no improvement regarding urinary symptoms or general well-being could be demonstrated in 19 completely evaluable patients who were assessed by a mailed questionnaire 3 months after treatment. The median survival for all 39 patients was 7.5 months. Other forms of palliative treatment (chemotherapy combined with radiotherapy or accelerated radiotherapy, palliative surgery) should be evaluated by randomized trials in these poor-prognosis bladder cancer patients. Self-administrated questionnaires seem to be useful for assessing the subjective morbidity of such patients.