Quality of life assessment in radiotherapy

The patient's quality of life is an integral part of the evaluation of anticancer treatment. We can meet its evaluation mainly within the framework of clinical studies and research projects, but it is increasingly included in routine clinical practice as well. In radiotherapy, this indicator needs to be evaluated especially with the advent of new fractionation regimes, which are supposed to ensure better clinical results, but also the same or better quality of life for patients compared to another fractionation scheme. There are several ways to measurably evaluate the quality of life. Questionnaires filled in by patients are most often used, so this is a subjective approach. It is essential to choose the right methodology, especially the type and form of questionnaires with regard to the specific situation (diagnosis, treatment, etc.).

In this educational review article, quality of life and its role in the treatment of a patient with radiotherapy are defined. Next, selected methods of quality of life assessment in radiotherapy are described in detail. Emphasis is placed especially on available questionnaire surveys, generic or specific. Among the most commonly used quality of life questionnaires are those from the EORTC group, FACIT questionnaires and the EQ-5D, SF-36, WHOQOL-100 and WHOQOL-BREF questionnaires. The general EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire, which is also often used in radiotherapy, is used to demonstrate the assessment on one specific example of a questionnaire completed by a patient.

The quality of life of an oncology patient ranks among the most important evaluations of care outcomes (patient reported outcomes measures), and data collection for its evaluation should be part of routine clinical practice in radiation oncology as well, especially when introducing a new fractionation regimen. The purpose of this educational review article is to point out the various possibilities for evaluating the quality of life, different types of generic and specific questionnaires, and also to emphasize certain recommendations and procedures necessary for quality evaluation of questionnaires.