VIDEO: Pain and impaired QOL persist after open endometrial cancer surgery

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD. – Patient-reported outcomes from a prospective cohort study of minimally invasive versus open surgery for women with endometrial cancer showed that the disability from open surgery persisted for longer than had previously been recognized. Further, for a subset of patients, impairment in sexual functioning was significant, and persistent, regardless of the type of surgery.

At 3 weeks after surgery, patients who had open surgery had greater pain as measured by the Brief Pain Inventory (minimally important difference greater than 1, P = .0004). By 3 months post surgery, responses on the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–General were still significantly lower for the open-surgery group, compared with the minimally invasive group (P = .0011).

Although patients’ pain and overall state of health were better at 3 weeks post surgery, regardless of whether women had open, laparoscopic, or robotic surgery, the reduced overall quality of life experienced by patients who had open surgery persisted.

“What was a bit different from other studies … is that we found that this is maintained even at 3 months, and it was clinically and statistically different,” Sarah Ferguson, MD, said in a video interview at the annual meeting of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology. “So that was really, I think, an interesting finding, that this doesn’t just impact the very short term. Three months is a fairly long time after a primary surgery, and [it’s] important for women to know this.”

Patients in the eight-center study had histologically confirmed clinical stage I or II endometrial cancer. The open-surgery arm of the study involved 106 patients, and 414 had minimally invasive surgery (168 laparascopic, 246 robotic).

The robotic and laparoscopic arms showed no statistically significant differences for any patient-reported outcome, even after adjusting for potentially confounding variables, said Dr. Ferguson of Princess Margaret Cancer Centre at the University of Toronto. Accordingly, investigators compared both minimally invasive arms grouped together against open surgery.

Overall, about 80% of patients completed the quality-of-life questionnaires. The response rate for the sexual-functioning questionnaires, however, was much lower, ranging from about a quarter to a half of the participants.

When Dr. Ferguson and her colleagues examined the characteristics of the patients who did complete the sexual-functioning questionnaires, they found that these women were more likely to be younger, partnered, premenopausal and sexually active at the time of diagnosis. Both of the surgical groups “met the clinical cutoff for sexual dysfunction” on the Female Sexual Function Index questionnaire, she said.

For the sexual function questionnaires, differences between the open and minimally invasive groups were not significant at any time point throughout the 26 weeks that patients were studied. “Though it’s a small population, I think these results are important,” said Dr. Ferguson. “These variables may be helpful for us to target patients in our practice, or in future studies, who require intervention.”

Though the study was not randomized, Dr. Ferguson said that the baseline characteristics were similar between groups, and the investigators’ intention-to-treat analysis used a statistical model that adjusted for many potential confounding variables.

Dr. Ferguson reported having no conflicts of interest.

[email protected]
On Twitter @karioakes

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD. – Patient-reported outcomes from a prospective cohort study of minimally invasive versus open surgery for women with endometrial cancer showed that the disability from open surgery persisted for longer than had previously been recognized. Further, for a subset of patients, impairment in sexual functioning was significant, and persistent, regardless of the type of surgery.

At 3 weeks after surgery, patients who had open surgery had greater pain as measured by the Brief Pain Inventory (minimally important difference greater than 1, P = .0004). By 3 months post surgery, responses on the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–General were still significantly lower for the open-surgery group, compared with the minimally invasive group (P = .0011).

Although patients’ pain and overall state of health were better at 3 weeks post surgery, regardless of whether women had open, laparoscopic, or robotic surgery, the reduced overall quality of life experienced by patients who had open surgery persisted.

“What was a bit different from other studies … is that we found that this is maintained even at 3 months, and it was clinically and statistically different,” Sarah Ferguson, MD, said in a video interview at the annual meeting of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology. “So that was really, I think, an interesting finding, that this doesn’t just impact the very short term. Three months is a fairly long time after a primary surgery, and [it’s] important for women to know this.”

Patients in the eight-center study had histologically confirmed clinical stage I or II endometrial cancer. The open-surgery arm of the study involved 106 patients, and 414 had minimally invasive surgery (168 laparascopic, 246 robotic).

The robotic and laparoscopic arms showed no statistically significant differences for any patient-reported outcome, even after adjusting for potentially confounding variables, said Dr. Ferguson of Princess Margaret Cancer Centre at the University of Toronto. Accordingly, investigators compared both minimally invasive arms grouped together against open surgery.

Overall, about 80% of patients completed the quality-of-life questionnaires. The response rate for the sexual-functioning questionnaires, however, was much lower, ranging from about a quarter to a half of the participants.

When Dr. Ferguson and her colleagues examined the characteristics of the patients who did complete the sexual-functioning questionnaires, they found that these women were more likely to be younger, partnered, premenopausal and sexually active at the time of diagnosis. Both of the surgical groups “met the clinical cutoff for sexual dysfunction” on the Female Sexual Function Index questionnaire, she said.

For the sexual function questionnaires, differences between the open and minimally invasive groups were not significant at any time point throughout the 26 weeks that patients were studied. “Though it’s a small population, I think these results are important,” said Dr. Ferguson. “These variables may be helpful for us to target patients in our practice, or in future studies, who require intervention.”

Though the study was not randomized, Dr. Ferguson said that the baseline characteristics were similar between groups, and the investigators’ intention-to-treat analysis used a statistical model that adjusted for many potential confounding variables.

Dr. Ferguson reported having no conflicts of interest.

[email protected]
On Twitter @karioakes

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD. – Patient-reported outcomes from a prospective cohort study of minimally invasive versus open surgery for women with endometrial cancer showed that the disability from open surgery persisted for longer than had previously been recognized. Further, for a subset of patients, impairment in sexual functioning was significant, and persistent, regardless of the type of surgery.

At 3 weeks after surgery, patients who had open surgery had greater pain as measured by the Brief Pain Inventory (minimally important difference greater than 1, P = .0004). By 3 months post surgery, responses on the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–General were still significantly lower for the open-surgery group, compared with the minimally invasive group (P = .0011).

Although patients’ pain and overall state of health were better at 3 weeks post surgery, regardless of whether women had open, laparoscopic, or robotic surgery, the reduced overall quality of life experienced by patients who had open surgery persisted.

“What was a bit different from other studies … is that we found that this is maintained even at 3 months, and it was clinically and statistically different,” Sarah Ferguson, MD, said in a video interview at the annual meeting of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology. “So that was really, I think, an interesting finding, that this doesn’t just impact the very short term. Three months is a fairly long time after a primary surgery, and [it’s] important for women to know this.”

Patients in the eight-center study had histologically confirmed clinical stage I or II endometrial cancer. The open-surgery arm of the study involved 106 patients, and 414 had minimally invasive surgery (168 laparascopic, 246 robotic).

The robotic and laparoscopic arms showed no statistically significant differences for any patient-reported outcome, even after adjusting for potentially confounding variables, said Dr. Ferguson of Princess Margaret Cancer Centre at the University of Toronto. Accordingly, investigators compared both minimally invasive arms grouped together against open surgery.

Overall, about 80% of patients completed the quality-of-life questionnaires. The response rate for the sexual-functioning questionnaires, however, was much lower, ranging from about a quarter to a half of the participants.

When Dr. Ferguson and her colleagues examined the characteristics of the patients who did complete the sexual-functioning questionnaires, they found that these women were more likely to be younger, partnered, premenopausal and sexually active at the time of diagnosis. Both of the surgical groups “met the clinical cutoff for sexual dysfunction” on the Female Sexual Function Index questionnaire, she said.

For the sexual function questionnaires, differences between the open and minimally invasive groups were not significant at any time point throughout the 26 weeks that patients were studied. “Though it’s a small population, I think these results are important,” said Dr. Ferguson. “These variables may be helpful for us to target patients in our practice, or in future studies, who require intervention.”

Though the study was not randomized, Dr. Ferguson said that the baseline characteristics were similar between groups, and the investigators’ intention-to-treat analysis used a statistical model that adjusted for many potential confounding variables.

Dr. Ferguson reported having no conflicts of interest.

[email protected]
On Twitter @karioakes