Quality of life in patients post sacral resection using patient reported outcomes measurements.

BACKGROUND CONTEXT: There is little consensus about what tools to use to assess quality of life in these patients who undergo enbloc removal of the sacrum for malignant disease. Symptoms can vary from wound complications to loss of bowel, bladder and sexual function. It is clear that no one questionnaire can cover the full spectrum of symptoms.

PURPOSE: To assess physical and mental function, pain intensity and pain interference in patients after resection of a primary sacral tumor.

STUDY DESIGN: This was a multi-institutional pilot cross-sectional study.

PATIENT SAMPLE: Consecutive patients who visited the out-patient clinic for follow-up post sacrectomy at MSKCC, MGH and MC between January 2012 and October 2013 were included. The study population comprised of 79 patients.

OUTCOME MEASURES: Patients were classified as having had a total, hemi, high or low sacrectomy based on the level of sacral resection.

METHODS: Patient data was collected using a tablet PC in the out-patient clinic and stored in an online database. Further data was collected from clinic notes and hospital records that included operative notes and radiology reports.

RESULTS:Total and hemi sacrectomies were associated with worse pain intensity compared to high and low sacrectomies (p

CONCLUSIONS: The pool of literature regarding sacrectomy QoL outcomes is virtually nonexistent. This study demonstrates the need for a universal QoL tool which measures overall QoL, physical function, mental function, pain, bowel, bladder and sexual function. To our knowledge this is the first study to attempt to measure the QoL in patients post sacrectomy.