Psycho-social well-being and general health status after surgical treatment for localized renal cell carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE: To comparatively assess the psychological, social well-being and general state of health in patients with stage 1 renal cell carcinoma (RCC) (according to 1997 TNM), who underwent either elective nephron sparing surgery (NSS) or radical nephrectomy.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: We evaluated the health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) in 88 patients who underwent radical nephrectomy and in 56 treated with elective NSS. The measurement of the main QoL components has been made using domain-specific questionnaires tested and validated in Italian language. Each questionnaire has been self-administrated during follow-up (cross-sectional study).

RESULTS: The two analysed group resulted perfectly comparable regarding age, gender, civil status, educational level, profession and mean follow-up. A low level anxiety has been documented in 11.4% of patients after radical nephrectomy and in 1.8% of those treated with an elective conservative surgery. The mean score difference between the two groups resulted statistically significant (p = 0.003). A mild depression has been recorded in 7% of patients who underwent radical nephrectomy and in 2.3% of NSS group. The mean score difference between the two groups was statistically significant (p = 0.01). The general health status was impaired in 12.5% of cases after radical nephrectomy and in 7% after elective NSS. Social problems were present in 18% of patients who underwent radical nephrectomy and in 18% of NSS group. There was no significant difference between radical and conservative group in terms of both General health Questionnaire and Social Problem Questionnaire mean scores.

CONCLUSION: HR-QoL in patients who underwent surgery for RCC is not particularly negatively affected. Nevertheless, the comparative analysis of the results showed that, at a long term follow-up, radical surgery seems to eventually cause a more relevant negative impact on the psychological well-being than conservative surgery.