Quality of Life in Ovarian Cancer Patients Choosing to Receive Salvage Chemotherapy or Palliative Treatment

Abstract

<b>Background:</b> The hypothesis that patients who primarily progress on two consecutive chemotherapy regimenswithout evidence of clinical benefit may opt for supportive care was investigated. The purpose was to determinethe quality of life in recurrent ovarian cancer patients choosing to receive salvage chemotherapy in additionto supportive care or palliative care alone. A secondary objective was to evaluate factors that affect quality oflife in ovarian cancer patients. Materials and <br/><b>Methods</b>: A descriptive study was conducted in patients who hadhistological confirmed epithelial ovarian cancer and failed to respond to at least one regimen of chemotherapy,coming for treatment at the King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand over a six-monthperiod from August 2012-March 2013. Each patient was asked to complete the FACT-G and a general personalquestionnaire. The median quality of life score was analyzed. The Mann Whitney U Test was used to comparethe difference between salvage chemotherapy and palliative care groups, and the Kruskal Wallis was used toevaluate other variables. <br/><b>Results</b>: Thirty-eight ovarian cancer patients were identified who failed to respondto chemotherapy. Of the 38, 30 chose salvage chemotherapy and eight palliative care for further treatment. Byhistology the carcimnomas were predominantly endometrioid subtype and poorly differentiated. The majorityof patients in this study had FIGO stage III, and ECOG status 0-1. The median quality of life score was 76.3(35.8-94.0), with no significant differences between the groups. Factors associated with the quality of life werethe ECOG score and number of chemotherapeutic courses. <br/><b>Conclusions</b>: In the setting of refractory or recurrentepithelial ovarian cancer, patients who receive salvage chemotherapy have comparable quality of life scores withpatients treated with palliative care alone, providing a contrast with previous studies.