Issues in quality of life assessment during cancer therapy

Current treatments for cancer do not differentiate between malignant and normal cells; this limitation results in the adverse effects associated with radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Adverse effects of treatment severely impact the cancer patient's quality of life. Quality of life assessment can help the clinician gauge the efficacy of interventions that reduce the adverse effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Quality of life is an increasingly important outcome measure in the evaluation of cancer treatments, and a variety of tools have been developed for evaluating changes in quality of life. This report reviews several of these measurement tools, focusing primarily on those used in lung cancer trials.