Quality of life assessment after radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in patients with malignant liver tumors

• Published in: Journal of vascular and interventional radiology Vol. 24; no. 4; pp. S147 - S148
• Main Authors: Caughron, J, El-Rayes, B, Kauh, J, Kooby, D.A, Maithel, S.K, Kang, J, Kim, H.S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01-04-2013
• Subjects: Radiology
• ISSN: 1051-0443
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jvir.2013.01.369

Purpose To investigate the effects on quality of life of RFA in patients with malignant liver tumors. Materials and Methods Single-center IRB-approved prospective health-related quality of life (HRQOL) study with analysis of the Short-Form 36 (SF-36) assessment tool before and after outpatient CT-guided percutaneous RFA procedure was performed. Scores were obtained at baseline prior to RFA and were compared with post-treatment scores. Paired t-test was used to compare the score of each domain before and after treatment. Unpaired t-test was used to compare post treatment HCC responses versus non-HCC tumor responses. Significance levels were set at .05 for all tests. The SAS statistical package v9.2 (SAS Institute, Inc., Cary, NC) was used for all data management and analyses. Results 48 patients (median age 65 years; range 40-92) with liver tumors (HCC 28, colorectal carcinoma mets 7, non-CRC mets 9, cholangiocarcinoma 4) were enrolled into the study. The median length of time from RFA to first follow-up survey was 53 days. Patients had decreased baseline scores within all eight domains of the SF-36 compared with healthy age-adjusted norms. There were positive trends in Vitality (VT) (41.93 vs 42.10, p=0.97), however these results were not statistically significant. There were no statistically significant changes in the Mental Health (MH) (70.5 vs 68.5, p=0.62), General Health (GH) (51.4 vs 49.3, p=0.58), Physical Functioning (PF) (59.1 vs 52.1, p=0.19), Role-Physical (RP) (43.5 vs 36.2, p=0.34), Role-Emotional (RE) (65.9 vs 60, p=0.4), Social Functioning (SF) (69.9 vs 62.8, p=0.2), and Bodily Pain (BP) (67.05 vs 63.04, p=0.483) domains. Statistically significant results favoring non-HCC versus HCC post treatment responses were present in the following domains (RP p=.02, SF p=.02, RE p=.002, VT p=0.02, GH p=.01, PF p=.03). Conclusion Patients with malignant liver tumors are not likely to perceive decreases throughout any of the SF-36 domains after treatment with outpatient RFA. Patients with non-HCC malignant liver tumors are more likely to perceive increases in vitality, social functioning, emotional problems, vitality, general health, and daily activities after outpatient RFA as compared to HCC liver tumors.