Estimation of quality of life in patients after surgery for lung cancer

Introduction: Lung cancer is the biggest challenge to modern medicine. Lung cancer incidence and mortality remain at a constant very high level, in particular among men. About 20000 persons develop lung cancer and approximately 19000 persons die of the disease in Poland each year. Lung cancer is often diagnosed late; therefore only 4-14% of patients can be qualified for surgical treatment. The aim of the study was an attempt to estimate the life quality of patients that had undergone surgical treatment due to lung cancer, 3 months after surgery.
Materials and method: The study comprised 30 persons aged 48-78, who underwent surgical treatment within the period of March to December 2005 in the Chest and Neoplasm Clinic at the Oncology Centre in Bydgoszcz. 3 months after surgery each patient completed a questionnaire under a nurse’s supervision.
Results: In the estimation of skills, almost all patients had troubles in doing hard tasks but most of them did not demand help in eating and dressing. One of four patients had no problems with doing pleasurable things and their hobby. Psychological aspect of quality of life was good, but most patients were irritated and distressed. Also most of them demanded leisure and felt fatigue. Intensification of fatigue was quite high. Over half of patients did not suffer from lack of appetite; however, 1/5 of patients had problems with swallowing. Most patients felt pain in the chest. This pain occurred in one of five patients very often. Low mean value in the assessment of pain severity showed that the problem had moderate significance. Frequency and intensity of breathlessness at rest were moderate. Troubles with good sleep occurred quite frequently. Financial problems related to health condition and necessity of treatment were serious problems for patients. Patients assessed their health condition and quality of life on a seven-stage scale. Over half of patients placed themselves at 3 or 4 and average value was about 4 in both cases.
Conclusion: Problems with finance, fatigue and good level of performance occurred most frequently among patients at 3 months after surgery. The level of estimation of health condition and quality of life was moderate and was slightly below 4 on the seven-stage scale.