Quality of Life in Patients with Malignant Wounds Treated at a Wound Care Clinic

Malignant wounds can present in up to 14.5% of patients with advanced cancer, significantly reducing quality of life (QoL). Management of malignant wounds is generally palliative, with the goal of improving or maintaining QoL. There is a lack of data on the impact of wound care clinics on QoL in patients with malignant wounds.

We sought to assess the QoL in patients with malignant wounds attending a wound care clinic. We also aimed to describe the baseline QoL, trends in QoL, physical symptoms, and treatment modalities that affect QoL in patients with malignant wounds over time.

This retrospective observational study included 36 patients attending a wound care clinic at an oncologic hospital from 1/1/2016-4/1/2023. As part of the standard of care, these patients complete a Skindex-16 QoL survey at each visit. The Skindex-16 is a validated instrument to measure the effects of skin diseases on QoL. Data were extracted from the electronic medical record. Descriptive statistics, graphical methods, and random effects models for change were used to describe the patient population and the QoL measures over time.

Of the 36 patients who completed at least one Skindex-16 questionnaire, 69.4% were female, and 50.0% developed malignant wounds from breast cancer, 30.5% from nonmelanoma skin cancer, and 8.3% from sarcoma. At the initial visit, 86.1% of patients had exudate associated with their malignant wound, 52.7% of patients had malodor, 63.9% had bleeding, 69.4% had pain, and 50% had pruritus. The mean baseline Skindex-16 score was 54.5, falling into the "extremely severe" category, with a mean score of 15.4, 18.8, and 20.3 for the symptoms, emotions, and functioning domains, respectively. Nineteen patients completed at least one additional Skindex-16 questionnaire at follow-up visits (visit two 52.8%, visit three 33.3%, visit four 19.4%, visit five or greater 13.9%). Compared to the mean Skindex-16 score at baseline, there was an 18.5 point improvement at visit 2 (95% CI: 3.3-33.7, p = 0.018).

Malignant wounds severely adversely affect patients' quality of life. However, patients experienced improved quality of life after being treated at a dedicated wound clinic.