Introduction: Quality of life (QL) assessment should be an essential part of clinical practice and should also be included in every clinical trial of prostate cancer. The term QL describes a person's overall well-being comprising not only physical functioning but also psychological and social dimensions. It is important to remember that QL can be affected by the disease as well as by the therapeutic treatment adopted.
Objectives: To measure the impact on QL in 161 patients treated by radical prostatectomy performed from January 1980 to June 1995. To describe the QL results from a national epidemiological study on prostate cancer, and to review the assessment of QL in this setting.
Conclusions: We found radical prostatectomy to have minimal overall impact on QL in patients informed of, and involved with all therapeutic decisions. Maintenance of sexual activity was considered to be of less importance than the attempt to cure the disease. The best method of assessment remains unclear but, minimally, a general questionnaire supplemented by specific questions on urinary-sexual symptoms should be administered at follow-up.