The effects of pelvic radiotherapy on cancer survivors: symptom profile, psychological morbidity and quality of life.

Abstract

As cancer survival rates continue to increase, it is important to maximise the quality of life of cancer survivors. Pelvic radiotherapy is a common cancer treatment. Bladder, bowel and sexual dysfunction are recognised side-effects of treatment, and yet relatively little is known of the extent to which they remain problems in the longer term when patients are often managed by primary care, nor of the psychological impact of symptoms and effects on quality of life. Therefore, the aims of this study were to estimate the prevalence of bladder, bowel and sexual dysfunction late effects in a sample of cancer survivors; assess the impact of time since treatment on symptom prevalence; and explore the relationship between symptoms, psychological morbidity and quality of life.