Health-related quality of life results in pathologic stage C prostate cancer from a Southwest Oncology Group trial comparing radical prostatectomy alone with radical prostatectomy plus radiation therapy.

Purpose: To compare short- and long-term effects of adjuvant treatment versus observation after surgery on health-related quality of life (HRQL) of prostate cancer patients.

Patients And Methods: The Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) intergroup trial compared radical prostatectomy (RP) plus observation versus RP plus adjuvant radiation therapy (RT). Two-hundred seventeen of 425 therapeutic trial patients were eligible and registered to the HRQL study.