Systematic review of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) issues associated with gastric cancer: capturing cross-cultural differences

Health-related Quality of Life and hospital costs of Finnish melanoma patients participating in the second Multicenter Selective Lymphadenectomy Trial (MSLT-II)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

After reports that complete lymph node dissection (CLND) did not improve melanoma-specific survival of sentinel lymph node (SLN)-positive patients, the use of CLND has diminished but it is still carried out for selected patients. We sought to assess differences in Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) and tertiary care costs among the Finnish Multicenter Selective Lymphadenectomy Trial (MSLT)-II-patients.

PATIENTS/MATERIALS AND METHODS

A total of 52 patients randomized to CLND and 55 to nodal observation completed a modified version of the standardized and validated, RAND-36 questionnaire at baseline, 4 months and annually up to 5 years. Tertiary care costs between the groups were also compared.

RESULTS

At 60 months, the mean HRQoL score for the CLND and observation groups for General Health were 77.3 versus 65.0 (p = 0.007, adjusted p = 0.065), for role limitations due to physical health 89.5 versus 72.3 (p = 0.029, adjusted p = 0.203) and for role limitations due to emotional problems 91.4 versus 71.9 (p = 0.006, adjusted p = 0.065) and at 48 months, 92.8 versus 71.3 (p = 0.002, adjusted p = 0.056). Median costs per patient were higher in the CLND group at 4 months but the difference disappeared during follow-up.

INTERPRETATION

This study suggests that undergoing CLND after a positive SLN biopsy is not a predictor of worse HRQoL. CLND generates greater costs initially, but there seem to be no major differences in total cost per patient between the two groups.

Patients' experiences in early satiety after total gastrectomy for gastric cancer: a phenomenological study

Introduction

This study examines how gastric cancer patients adjust their eating habits and quality of life after total gastrectomy, particularly concerning early satiety. While total gastrectomy may provide a potential cure, it also leads to significant physical, psychological, and social changes. Understanding these adaptations is essential for enhancing survivorship care.

Methods

We conducted a qualitative study utilizing a phenomenological approach to gain insights into the lived experiences of gastric cancer patients following total gastrectomy. Semi-structured interviews were analyzed to identify key themes related to eating habits and quality of life.

Results

Four core themes emerged: (1) Ineluctability of bodily transformations-patients experienced significant disruptions to their bodily identity; (2) Feelings of weaning and loss of habits-a sense of mourning for lost routines and pleasures; (3) Redefining habits-the process of adapting to new eating patterns; and (4) Experiencing tentative conviviality-struggles to restore social interactions around meals. Social anxiety, particularly regarding dining outside the home, was a notable challenge. Family caregivers played complex roles, providing both support and unintentional obstacles.

Discussion

The findings highlight the multifaceted impact of total gastrectomy on patients' lives, influencing their physical health, psychological well-being, and social dynamics. Survivorship care plans should consider these aspects to facilitate adaptation. Targeted interventions, such as nutritional counseling, telemonitoring, and digital tools, are suggested to assist patients in adjusting to post-gastrectomy life. These strategies could enhance quality of life and promote improved physical, psychological, and social well-being integration.

Function Preserving Gastrectomy and Quality of Life

Advances in gastric cancer screening have enabled earlier detection, shifting the focus of treatment toward preserving patients' quality of life (QoL). Function-preserving gastrectomy (FPG), including pylorus-preserving gastrectomy, proximal gastrectomy, and sentinel node navigation surgery, represents a paradigm shift in the surgical management of early gastric cancer. These techniques aim to balance oncological safety with the preservation of gastric function, mitigating postgastrectomy syndromes such as dumping syndrome, bile reflux, and nutritional deficiencies. QoL assessment tools, including EORTC QLQ-STO22, KOQUSS-40, and PGSAS-45, have become integral for evaluating patient-reported outcomes, providing insights into physical, emotional, and functional recovery. Although current evidence underscores the benefits of FPG, most studies are limited to East Asia, highlighting the need for multinational trials to validate these findings globally. FPG has demonstrated comparable short- and long-term oncological outcomes to conventional gastrectomy. Enhanced nutritional recovery and reduced gastrointestinal sequelae make FPG increasingly attractive. However, its widespread adoption is challenged by technical complexity, resource intensity, and the need for adequate surgical experience. The integration of advanced technologies, such as robotic surgery and artificial intelligence, coupled with personalized approaches, is expected to further optimize FPG outcomes. This review underscores the critical role of standardized QoL assessments, collaborative research, and technological innovations in advancing FPG as a cornerstone of patient-centered gastric cancer care.

Defining a balance by compromising with fear: A grounded theory study on returning to eating after a total gastrectomy

OBJECTIVES

Gastric cancer patients undergoing total gastrectomy face nutrition-related complications and worsening quality of life after surgery. In this context, gastrectomized cancer patients are required to cope with new conditions. Little is known about their accommodating feeding to the new life condition as a negotiated process among stakeholders in real contexts. This study aimed to investigate the shaping of this process as influenced by the perspectives of patients, health-care professionals (HPs), and caregivers (CGs).

METHODS

A constructivist grounded theory study, through semi-structured interviews and interpretative coding, was designed to answer the following research question: "what is the process of returning to eating and feeding after a gastrectomy?"

RESULTS

The final sample included 18 participants. "Defining a balance by compromising with fear" is the core category explaining returning to eating as a process negotiated by all actors involved, with patients trying to find a feeding balance through a multi-layer compromise: with the information received by HPs, the proprioception drastically altered by gastric resection, new dietary habits to accept, and complex and often minimized conviviality. This process involves 4 main conceptual phases: relying on the doctors' advice, perceptive realignment, rearranging food intake, and food-regulated social interaction. Those categories are also shaped by the fear of being unwell from eating and the constant fear of tumor relapse.

SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS

Multiple actors can meet patients' and their CGs' nutritional, care, and psychosocial needs. A multidisciplinary approach involving nutritionists, psychologists, occupational therapists, social workers, and anthropologists can be key to effectively managing these patients' survivorship care. We suggest training all the professionals on the first level of nutritional counseling.

Revisiting the use of the EORTC QLQ-STO22 to assess health-related quality of life of patients with gastric cancer: incorporating updated treatment options and cross-cultural perspectives

BACKGROUND

The EORTC QLQ-STO22 (QLQ-STO22) is a firmly established and validated measure of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) for people with gastric cancer (GC), developed over two decades ago. Since then there have been dramatic changes in treatment options for GC. Also, East Asian patients were not involved in the development of QLQ-STO22, where GC is most prevalent and the QLQ-STO22 is widely used. A review with appropriate updating of the measure was planned. This study aims to capture HRQoL issues associated with new treatments and the perspectives of patients and health care professionals (HCPs) from different cultural backgrounds, including East Asia.

METHODS

A systematic literature review and open-ended interviews were preformed to identify potential new HRQoL issues relating to GC. This was followed by structured interviews where HCPs and patients reviewed the QLQ-STO22 alongside new issues regarding relevance, importance, and acceptability.

RESULTS

The review of 267 publications and interviews with 104 patients and 18 HCPs (48 and 9 from East Asia, respectively) generated a list of 58 new issues. Three of these relating to eating small amounts, flatulence, and neuropathy were recommended for inclusion in an updated version of the QLQ-STO22 and covered by five additional questions.

CONCLUSIONS

This study supports the content validity of the QLQ-STO22, suggesting its continued relevance to patients with GC, including those from East Asia. The updated version with additional questions and linguistic changes will enhance its specificity, but further testing is required.

Textbook oncological outcomes and prognosis after curative gastrectomy in advanced gastric cancer: A multicenter study

BACKGROUND

The impact of achieving textbook oncological outcome (TOO) as a multimodal therapy quality indicator on the prognosis of advanced gastric cancer (AGC) remains inadequately assessed.

METHODS

Patients with AGC who underwent curative gastrectomy between January 2010 and December 2017 at two East Asian medical centers were included. TOO was defined as achieving the textbook outcome (TO) and receiving neoadjuvant and/or adjuvant chemotherapy (NCT or ACT). Cox and logistic regression models were used to identify prognostic and non-TOO-associated risk factors.

RESULTS

Among 3626 patients, 57.6% achieved TOO (TOO group), exhibiting significantly better 5-year overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) than the non-TOO group (both p < 0.05). Multivariate Cox regression identified TOO as an independent prognostic factor for 5-year OS (HR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.61-0.74; p < 0.001) and DFS (HR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.66-0.81; p < 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression showed that open gastrectomy, lack of health insurance, age ≥65 years, ASA score ≥ Ⅲ, and tumor size ≥50 mm are independent risk factors for non-achievement of TOO (all p < 0.05). On a sensitivity analysis of TOO's prognostic value using varying definitions of chemotherapy parameters, a stricter definition of chemotherapy resulted in a decrease in the TOO achievement rate from 57.6 to 22.3%. However, the associated reductions in the risk of death and recurrence fluctuated within the ranges of 33-39% and 28-37%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

TOO is a reliable and stable metric for favorable prognosis in AGC. Optimizing the surgical approach and improving health insurance status may enhance TOO achievement.

Humanized oncology nursing care in a person with gastric cancer: A case report

Cancer impacts the person's physical health, psychosocial and spiritual wellbeing. The humanization of care is an essential element to achieve integral wellbeing of the individual. The aim of this article is to present a clinical case, using the nursing process with the NANDA, NOC and NIC taxonomies, and based on the principles of Watson's theory of humanized care. The participant is a 45-year-old woman with gastric cancer in palliative stage. The assessment was performed using Gordon's functional patterns and the Watson Caritas Patient Score scale to evaluate the care received previously in the health system. Eight nursing diagnoses were identified, prioritizing 3 diagnoses using the clinical reasoning web (decisional conflict, anxiety, and ineffective self-management of health). Expected outcomes and nursing interventions were planned and implemented through moments of care using health education through tele-nursing and the intentional use of Caritas processes of care in the transpersonal relationship. The results were evaluated with the scales of the indicators and anxiety was also evaluated with the Beck Anxiety Inventory. Health education in oncology nursing contributed to improve informed decision making, reducing anxiety and providing emotional support to facilitate self-management of health. The participant perceived as humanized care throughout the sessions, reflected in the final evaluation with the Watson Caritas Patient Score scale.

Global status of research on gastrointestinal cancer patients' quality of life: A bibliometric and visual analysis from 2003 to 2023

Objective

To analyze the current research status, hotspots, and frontiers in the field of Gastrointestinal (GI) cancer and quality of life (QoL) through the bibliometrics method, and to provide references and guidance for future research.

Methods

Literature related to GI cancer and QoL from April 1, 2003 to March 31, 2023 was retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection database. CiteSpace 6.2.R1 was performed for collaboration analysis, keyword co-occurrence analysis, and document co-citation analysis.

Results

A total of 1224 publications were included in this study. There has been a significant increase in the number of publications in this field over the past two decades. The United States, the Karolinska Institute and the University of Amsterdam, and Pernilla Lagergren are the most prolific country, institution, and author, respectively. The links between most of the research constituents were relatively thin (centrality <0.1). The keyword analysis indicates that the benefits of physical activity on QoL, the levels of psychological distress and its relationship with QoL, as well as the development and validation of QoL measurement tools have been the research hotspots. Open-label/double-blind trials exploring therapeutic interventions and more targeted new drugs or more effective drug combinations, and longitudinal studies determining the direction of the association between psychological distress and QoL at different time points, may be emerging trends in this field.

Conclusion

The cooperation among countries, institutions, and authors in this field should be strengthened. In addition, the health benefits of light physical activity, interventions for QoL, trajectory and direction of the relationship between psychological distress and QoL may be the focus of future research.

Socioeconomic Status Plays a Moderating Role in the Association Between Multimorbidity and Health-Related Quality of Life Among Cancer Patients

This study aimed to explore the moderating role of socioeconomic status (SES) in the association between multimorbidity and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among cancer patients in Anhui China. A total of 560 cancer patients were recruited for the cross-section study. Socio-demographic and clinical characteristics were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Tobit regression analysis was employed to investigate the relationship between multimorbidity and HRQOL as well as to assess the moderating effect of SES. The research findings indicated that 76.61% of cancer patients experienced multimorbidity, with psychological multimorbidity being the most prevalent (45.54%), followed by physical-psychological multimorbidity (20.89%). Moreover, physical-psychological multimorbidity had the most substantial adverse effect on HRQOL (P < .001). The presence of multimorbidity was correlated with a significant decline in HRQOL, with a 17.5% (P < .001) decrease in HRQOL for each additional multimorbidity. Additionally, SES played a significant role in moderating the impact of multimorbidity on HRQOL in cancer patients. (Marginal effect = -0.022, P < .01). The high SES group exhibited a higher overall HRQOL than the low SES group (Marginal effect = 0.068, P < .001). And with the increase of multimorbidity, HRQOL in the higher SES showed a more pronounced downward trend, compared with the lower SES (β = -.270 vs β = -.201, P < .001). Our findings underscore the importance of preventing and managing multimorbidity in cancer patients, particularly those with low SES. Furthermore, it is essential to consider the impact of the rapid decline in HRQOL as the number of multimorbidity increases in individuals with higher SES. It is imperative to explore interdisciplinary and continuous collaborative management models.

Psychometric Properties and Factorial Analysis of the Arabic McGill-QoL Questionnaire in Breast Cancer

Purpose

This study aimed to assess the psychometric properties of the Arabic McGill Quality of Life Questionnaire-Revised (MQOL-R) in breast cancer survivors.

Patients and Methods

One-hundred-forty breast cancer survivors were recruited and completed the questionnaire. The construct validity was assessed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). MQOL-R scores were correlated with Global Health Status/QoL and functional subscales of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) for convergent validity. Reliability was estimated using Cronbach's alpha and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC).

Results

CFA reproduced a four-factor model (ie, physical, psychological, existential, and social) with good fit indices (comparative fitting index = 0.980; root mean square error of approximation = 0.091), with all items significantly loading on their respective subscales. The total MQOL-R scores were correlated with the global health status/QoL and functional subscales of the EORTC QLQ-C30 (r = -0.172, P < 0.01). Known-group validity was proven by different MQOL-R scores according to functional status (50.62 ± 6.35 vs 45.98 ± 7.19, P < 0.01). Reliability was supported by good internal consistency and high test-retest correlation coefficients for the Arabic MQOL-R and its subscales (ICC range, 0.83-0.95).

Conclusion

The Arabic MQOL-R demonstrated adequate construct validity, factor structure, excellent test-retest reliability, and good internal consistency. This tool is valuable for assessing the quality of life in research and physical therapy rehabilitation settings among Arabic-speaking breast cancer survivors.