Patient-reported health-related quality of life up to three years after the treatment with permanent brachytherapy: Outcome of the large-scale, prospective longitudinal study in Japanese-Prostate Cancer Outcome Study by Permanent I-125 Seed Implantation (J-POPS).

Purpose: To evaluate long-term health-related quality of life (HRQOL) impact of I-125 permanent seed implantation (PI) in Japanese patients with localized prostate cancer.

Materials And Methods: This is a longitudinal, prospective study of 2353 patients who enrolled in the nationwide Japanese-Prostate Cancer Outcome Study by Permanent I-125 Seed Implantation (J-POPS) from July 2005 to June 2007. HRQOL was measured before and after treatment (3, 12, 24, and 36 months) using the Medical Outcomes Study 8-items Short-Form Health Survey (SF-8) and the Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite Japanese version questionnaire.

Results: Of the total of 1511 patients who returned anonymized HRQOL questionnaires to Translational Research Center for Medical Innovation, 1079 underwent PI alone (PI group) and 432 underwent combined PI and external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) treatment (EBRT combination therapy group). The mental component summary score of SF-8 was improved at 12, 24, and 36 months compared with the pretreatment level. Although the urinary summary score at 3 months in the PI group was significantly lower than that in the EBRT combination therapy group, which recovered thereafter and was comparable to the score of the EBRT combination therapy group. The bowel summary score in the PI group was significantly higher than that in the EBRT combination therapy group at 12, 24, and 36 months.

Conclusion: This longitudinal, large-scale prospective study indicated that the general HRQOL for PI was almost maintained 3 years after treatment. These results provide important information for patients with localized prostate cancer, who may select to receive I-125 brachytherapy.