External beam radiotherapy in prostate cancer patients: short- and long-term health-related quality of life issues.

Health-related quality of life is an increasingly important issue in the treatment of prostate cancer. External beam radiotherapy is a frequently-used treatment option which can have short- and long-term side effects influencing the patients' quality of life. In this review the urinary, intestinal and sexual health-related quality of life issues related to treatment with external beam radiotherapy are addressed. Recent research reports allow us to provide an overview on both the short- and long-term of a patient's cancer experience. External beam radiotherapy has different effects on bowel, bladder and sexual function. This review suggests that external beam radiotherapy has a considerable short-term effect on bowel and sexual functioning, and that urinary function is rarely affected. In the long-term there is still a small, but non-negligible, effect on bowel functioning. Sexual function is greatly affected by external beam radiotherapy in the long-term. Recent radiotherapy treatment techniques, such as conformal external beam radiotherapy, tend to give better health-related quality of life outcomes. However, this needs confirmation by more studies in the short- and long-term including health-related quality of life measurements.