Long-term quality-of-life after neoadjuvant short-course radiotherapy and long-course radiochemotherapy for locally advanced rectal cancer.

PURPOSE: To evaluate long-term quality-of-life (QoL) after neoadjuvant short-course radiotherapy (SC-RT) and long-course radiochemotherapy (LC-RCHT) for locally advanced rectal cancer.
METHODS: Between 1999 and 2008, 225 patients were treated with curative intent for locally advanced rectal cancer using neoadjuvant SC-RT (n=108) or LC-RCHT (n=117). SC-RT delivered 10 × 2.9 Gy twice daily with immediate surgery. LC-RCHT delivered 28 × 1.8 Gy concomitant with 5-FU based chemotherapy and delayed surgery. A cross-sectional QoL analysis was performed in disease-free patients using the EORTC-QLQ-C30 and EORTC-QLQ-CR29 questionnaires.
RESULTS: After a median follow-up of 67 months, 133 patients were disease-free of which 120 (90%) returned the QoL questionnaires. Patients in the LC-RCHT cohort had a higher rate of uT4, uN+ and low tumor location. No difference in QoL was observed between SC-RT and LC-RCHT except an improved physical functioning in the LC-RCHT group (p=0.04). Comparing our total patient cohort with the general German population showed no difference in global health status but decreased QoL in several functional and bowel symptom scores.
CONCLUSIONS: The finding of comparable long-term QoL after SC-RT and LC-RCHT adds to our knowledge of equivalent oncological outcome and may be useful in the decision making process between the two neoadjuvant approaches.