Health-related quality of life after BCG or MMC induction for non-muscle invasive bladder cancer.

INTRODUCTION: To evaluate health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) during the induction phase of intravesical instillations with BCG or MMC.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: HRQoL was measured by two questionnaires from EORTC (QLQ-C30 and QLQ-BLS24), stratifying results by gender, age and therapy at the start of the therapy (T0), at last instillation (T1) and at 3 months after T1 (T2). The persistence of QoL-related side effects after 3 months from the end of the induction cycle was evaluated.

RESULTS: We enrolled 108 naïve patients and 103 patients self-completed the questionnaires. Treatment was well tolerated in both groups. Side effects were reported by 46.6% of patients at T1 and 47.5% of patients at T2. QoL dropped at T1, returning to the baseline at T2. Drop of QoL was greater in the physical, role, emotional and social functioning domains and in some clinical domains as pain, fatigue and insomnia. Our stratified analysis showed that patients > 70 years have a worsening of QoL, a higher incidence of patient-reported side effects or symptoms in the BCG arm as compared to MMC arm.

CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that intravesical instillations of BCG or MMC during the induction phase might have a relevant effect on HRQoL.