Quality of life and perceived pain after laparoscopic-assisted renal cryoablation.

Purpose: Assessing changes in quality of life (QoL) and perceived pain after laparoscopic-assisted cryoablation (LAC) of renal tumors.

Patients And Methods: Data for 57 patients who were treated with LAC were prospectively collected. QoL, divided into various domains, and postoperative pain were assessed using the Medical Outcome Study 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer QLQ-C30 (EORTC-QLQ-C30), and Visual Analog Scale (VAS). Assessment was performed at baseline and at different time intervals until 1 year after LAC. Using a repeated measures analysis of variance, the influence of the following parameters was evaluated: Time of assessment, age, comorbidity, the occurrence of a complication, and tumor histology.

Results: SF-36: At baseline, only general health perceptions scored lower compared with the general population. Time of assessment and a complication did not affect QoL. Comorbidity and age >70 years led to a significantly lower QoL. Tumor histology affected general health perceptions. EORTC-QLQ-C30: Time of assessment affected 7 of 15 domains because of lower scores after 2 weeks. Age and comorbidity each negatively influenced five domains. A complication increased three symptoms scores and lowered general health status. Tumor histology significantly altered role functioning. VAS: VAS reached a peak 1 day after LAC, then quickly declined. Patients >70 years had significant higher VAS.

Conclusions: QoL of patients who were treated with LAC showed a decrease 2 weeks after surgery but normalized to baseline within 3 months. Age and comorbidities especially affected QoL negatively. The VAS showed a peak 1 day after LAC and then quickly declined.