Outcomes of external-beam radiation therapy for prostate cancer: a study of Medicare beneficiaries in three surveillance, epidemiology, and end results areas.

Abstract

PURPOSE This study was designed to obtain representative estimates of the quality of life and probabilities of possible adverse effects among Medicare-age patients treated with external-beam radiation therapy for prostate cancer. METHODS Patients treated for local or regional prostate cancer with high-energy external-beam radiation between 1989 and 1991 were sampled from a claims data base of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program from three regions. Patients were surveyed primarily by mail, with telephone follow-up evaluation of non-respondents. There were 621 respondents (83% response rate). The results were compared with data from a previously published national survey of Medicare-age men who had undergone radical prostatectomy. RESULTS Although they were older at the time of treatment, radiation patients were less likely than surgical patients to wear pads for wetness (7% v 32%) and had a lower rate of impotence (23% v 56% for men < 70 years), while they were more likely to report problems with bowel dysfunction (10% v 4%). Both groups reported generally positive feelings about their treatments. Radiation and surgical patients reported similar rates of additional subsequent treatment (24% v 26% at 3 years after primary treatment). However, radiation patients were less likely to say they were cancer-free, and they reported more worry about cancer than did surgical patients. CONCLUSION The health-related quality of life of radiation and surgical patients, on average, is similar, but the pattern of experience with adverse consequences of treatment differs by treatment.