Purpose: To determine the effect of Y radioembolization therapy on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in patients with neuroendocrine tumor liver metastases (NETLM) in a prospective longitudinal study.
Materials and methods: Baseline Short-Form 36 HRQOL scores were evaluated for significant change (P < 0.05) within the total patient population at 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months following Y using paired t-test. Overall survival (OS) times were calculated from first Y using the Kaplan-Meier method and analyzed using the log-rank test.
Results: Thirty patients were enrolled. There were no significant differences in any of the eight HRQOL domains when comparing baseline scores to 1, 3, or 24-month follow-up scores. At 6- and 12-month follow-up, mean mental health and social functioning domain scores were significantly higher than baseline, respectively (P = 0.007; P = 0.019). The remainder of domains showed no significant difference at 6 or 12 months. Patients with baseline Mental Component Summary (MCS) over 50.0 had significantly longer mean survival than those under 50.0 (37.50 vs. 18.19 months, P = 0.0263). Patients with baseline Physical Component Summary (PCS) over 50.0 had no significant difference in survival compared to those under 50.0 (38.09 vs. 30.69 months, P = 0.783).
Conclusions: Patients with NETLM treated with Y have sustained HRQOL for up to 24 months following treatment. Temporary increases in mental health and social functioning at medium-term follow-up were observed. Patients with baseline MCS scores above the normalized U.S. population had longer overall survival compared to patients with baseline scores below the normalized U.S.