Quality of Life after Total Gastrectomy for Stomach Cancer: Results of Three Types of Quality of Life Evaluative Methods

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Abstract
In a randomized controlled trial (planned sample size, n = 60) oesophagojejunostomy was compared with the Hunt-Lawrence-Rodino pouch as operative procedures of gastrectomy in gastric cancer patients. Besides the survival time, one end point of the study was the postoperative quality of life of the patients. From 1978 to 1985 the quality of life could be assessed in 26 out of 35 patients by a modified Visick scaling and by a score constructed from a standardized questionnaire. Since 1984 the Spitzer index has also been introduced for quality of life assessment. In this interim report our questionnaire turned out to be more precise (sensitive) than the Visick scaling. This result was related to disease-specific variables more than to sociopersonal variables. The Spitzer index did not correlate with the questionnaire. Thus the question was left open whether our questionnaire measured an end point divergent from quality of life or whether the Spitzer index, developed for chronically ill patients, was not as suitable for quality of life estimation after a major operation.

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