Patient-reported Outcomes Following Treatment of Localised Prostate Cancer and Their Association with Regret About Treatment Choices

BACKGROUND: Well-documented reports of patients' experiences with different treatments are important for helping localised prostate cancer (LPC) patients choose among the available treatment options.

OBJECTIVE: To document differences in patient-reported outcomes (PROs) following radical prostatectomy (RP), external beam radiotherapy (EBRT), brachytherapy (BT), and active surveillance (AS), and to evaluate how these PROs and other factors are associated with treatment decision regret.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A prospective, observational, multicentre study of men diagnosed with LPC (stage cT1-2) during 2014-2016.

OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Patients completed validated PRO measures (Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 [QLQ-C30], Quality of Life Questionnaire prostate cancer-specific module [QLQ-PR25], Decision Regret Scale, and the Memorial Anxiety Scale for Prostate Cancer) before treatment and at 3, 6, and 12mo after treatment. Mixed-effect models were used to describe different PRO patterns.

RESULTS AND LIMITATIONS: The analytic cohort included 434 men (AS=32%; RP=45%; EBRT=12%; BT=10%). Follow-up response rates were above 90%. At 1-yr follow-up, (1) men who had received RP reported significantly (p<0.01) more urinary incontinence, sexual dysfunction, hormonal/masculinity-related symptoms, and less emotional distress; (2) those having received EBRT reported more sexual dysfunction, hormonal/masculinity-related symptoms, and physical distress; and (3) those having received BT reported more urinary obstruction and irritation symptoms, compared with patients under AS. Irrespective of the treatment modality, 23% of the patients reported clinically relevant treatment regret (99% confidence interval, 17-28%). Multivariate correlates of decision regret were hormonal/masculinity-related symptoms, educational level, and positive surgical margins.

CONCLUSIONS: Post-treatment physical and psychosocial functioning was significantly associated with specific treatment modalities and pretreatment functioning. Regret was relatively frequently reported by patients who experienced unwanted physical, psychosocial, and oncological outcomes. Greater efforts should be made to understand whether carefully educating patients about the possible consequences and effectiveness of treatments may help limit the feeling of treatment regret.

PATIENT SUMMARY: In men with localised prostate cancer, regret about the treatment choice was more common among those who experienced more treatment-related symptoms during the year after treatment.