Search

Objective: This study aims to explore the symptom experiences and psychological feelings of lung cancer patients after radical lobectomy in China., Methods: A qualitative study was conducted using face-to-face semistructured interviews with lung cancer patients who had a radical lobectomy for treatment of their cancer during the convalescence period. Participants (n = 18) were recruited from a general hospital in China, and patients were selected using purposive sampling from September 2021 to February 2022. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim, and Colaizzi's seven-step method of phenomenology was used. The Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) checklist was conducted to report the study., Results: Four themes were extracted from the interview data: physiological dimensions (fatigue, cough or sputum, chest tightness and shortness of breath, daily activities affected, sleep disturbance, lack of appetite); psychological dimensions (negative emotion, fear of cancer recurrence, learning to accept reality, strengthened faith and hope); family dimensions (heavy economic burden, perceived family care, improved health management behavior); and social dimensions (perceived support of medical staff, decreased sense of social value and self-identity, changes in social and working style)., Conclusion: Lung cancer patients are still troubled by many problems during the postoperative recovery period. Medical staff should design and implement effective evaluations and targeted interventions for patients' physical and mental health as soon as possible to improve patients' physical and mental health, as well as their quality of life., (© 2024 The Author(s). Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide. Literature reports depression and anxiety are the most common psychiatric symptoms in cancer patients. Notably, lung cancer is associated with major depressive disorder in 5-13% of cases. The present article aims to give an overview regarding the impact of mood disorders on the outcomes of patients affected by lung cancer. Our review showed that pharmacological treatment and psychotherapy can be useful to improve the quality of life of patients with lung cancer. Moreover, the treatment of depression and anxiety can be associated with a reduced mortality. In conclusion, it is important to consider psychiatric care as important as other adjuvant oncologic therapies in patients with cancer.

Background: Lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS) is the definitive treatment for patients with severe emphysema. There is still a need for long-term data concerning the outcomes of this procedure. This study presents long-term longitudinal data on LVRS including correlation of quality of life (QOL) with pulmonary function testing metrics and includes additional analysis of patients with heterogeneous and homogeneous emphysema., Methods: Retrospective analysis of data collected from patients undergoing LVRS over a 9-year period at a single center was performed (N = 93). Pulmonary function and 6-minute walk tests as well as QOL questionnaires were administered before and 1 year after surgery. Descriptive statistics were reported for clinical outcomes and QOL indices. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to examine changes from baseline to end of 1-year follow-up. Spearman correlation coefficients were used to evaluate relationships between clinical and QOL outcomes., Results: At 1-year post surgery, mean forced vital capacity (46%, P ≤ .0001), forced expiratory volume (43%, P ≤ .0001), diffusing capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide (16%, P ≤ .0001), and 6-minute walk distance (20%, P ≤ .0001) were increased from baseline, while residual volume decreased (23%, P ≤ .0001). There was a positive correlation between changes in QOL and forced expiratory volume, forced vital capacity, and, 6-minute walk distance. Patients having heterogeneous disease had greater improvements in forced expiratory volume, forced vital capacity, residual volume, and diffusing capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide, and greater QOL compared with patients with homogeneous disease., Conclusions: LVRS continues to be a valuable treatment option for patients with advanced emphysema with reproducible improvements in clinical and QOL metrics. Careful patient selection and optimization prior to surgery are crucial to successful outcomes., (Copyright © 2019 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Shared decision making is a dynamic clinical process by which the provider assists the patient in choosing between more than one treatment option for a given condition. Here, we explore what the shared decision making and risk communication process could look like in the setting of a high-risk patient with clinical stage I non-small cell lung cancer who is potentially eligible for either segmentectomy or stereotactic body radiation therapy. We highlight clinical tools that can be used during the shared decision making and risk communication process in a stepwise manner to identify patient preferences and values to assist in making a tailored treatment decision., (Copyright © 2016 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: Psychological distress associated with cancer treatment is an emerging issue in the management of cancer patients. The aim of this study was to identify the prevalence of postoperative anxiety and depression after surgical treatment for lung cancer, and to assess the risk factors associated with these phenomena., Methods: Patients who underwent curative surgical resection for primary lung cancer were included in this study. Patients with complex treatment histories (recurrent or metastatic lung cancer or neoadjuvant treatment) and those taking psychiatric medication were excluded. We prospectively evaluated the degrees of pre- and postoperative anxiety and depression using a Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale questionnaire. The relationships between clinical and patient factors and anxiety and depression after surgical treatment for lung cancer were assessed., Results: A total of 278 patients were enrolled. The mean age was 62 years. Thoracoscopic resection was performed in 246 patients (89%). The prevalence rates of preoperative anxiety and depression were 8% (n = 22) and 12% (n = 32), and changed to 9% (n = 26) and 19% (n = 54) postoperatively (P = 0.37 and <0.001, respectively). Gender, age, marital status, advanced clinical stage, alcohol abuse, smoking status, length of hospital stay, pulmonary function and preoperative comorbidities were not associated with postoperative anxiety and depression. Multivariate analysis revealed that thoracotomy was a risk factor for postoperative anxiety after adjusting for preoperative anxiety (odds ratio [OR] = 4.5, P = 0.002). Thoracotomy (OR = 3.4, P = 0.009), postoperative dyspnoea (OR = 4.8, P < 0.001), severe pain (OR = 3.9, P = 0.001) and diabetes mellitus (OR = 3.0, P = 0.012) were identified as risk factors for postoperative depression after adjusting for preoperative depression. Twenty-four patients were referred to mental health professionals and provided with supportive psychotherapy or pharmacological intervention. Of these, 14 patients (56%) were diagnosed with an adjustment disorder., Conclusions: Postoperative psychological distress and, in particular, depression increased after surgical treatment for lung cancer. Postoperative anxiety and depression were aggravated by residual symptoms after surgery. Careful psychological evaluation and appropriate management are required to improve patients' quality of life after lung cancer surgery., (© The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.)

Background: Prior studies have suggested that low baseline quality-of-life (QOL) scores predict worse survival in patients undergoing lung cancer surgery. However, these studies involved average-risk patients undergoing lobectomy. We report QOL results from a multicenter trial, American College of Surgeons Oncology Group Z4032, which randomized high-risk operable patients to sublobar resection (SR), or SR with brachytherapy, and included longitudinal QOL assessments., Methods: Global QOL, using the 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF36), and the dyspnea score from the University of California, San Diego Shortness of Breath Questionnaire (SOBQ) scale, was measured at baseline, 3, 12, and 24 months. SF36 physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) scores were standardized and adjusted for age and gender normals, with scores <50 indicating below-average health status. SOBQ scores were transformed to a 0-100 (poor-excellent) scale. Aims were to: (1) determine the impact of baseline scores on recurrence-free survival, overall survival, and 30-day adverse events (AEs); and (2) identify subgroups (surgical approach, resection type. tumor location, tumor size, respiratory function) with a ≥ 10-point decline or improvement in QOL after SR., Results: Two hundred twelve eligible patients were included. There were no significant differences in baseline QOL scores between arms. Median baseline PCS, MCS, and SOBQ scores were 42.7, 51.1, and 70.8, respectively. There were no differences in grade-3+ AEs, overall survival, or recurrence-free survival in patients with baseline scores ≤ median versus > median values, except for a significantly worse overall survival for patients with baseline SOBQ scores ≤ median value. There were no significant differences between the study arms in percentage change of QOL scores from baseline to 3, 12, or 24 months. Further comparison combining the 2 arms demonstrated a higher percentage of patients with a ≥ 10-point decline in SOBQ scores with segmentectomy compared with wedge resection (40.5% vs 21.9%, P = .03) at 12 months, with thoracotomy versus video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) (38.8% vs 20.4%, P = .03) at 12 months, and T1b versus T1a tumors (46.9% vs 23.5%, P = .020) at 24 months. A ≥ 10-point improvement in PCS score was seen at 3 months with VATS versus thoracotomy (16.5% vs 3.6%, P = .02)., Conclusions: In high-risk operable patients, poor baseline QOL scores were not predictive for worse overall or recurrence-free survival, or for higher risk for AEs following SR. VATS was associated with improvement in physical function at 3 months, and improved dyspnea scores at 12 months, lending support for the preferential use of VATS when SR is undertaken., (Copyright © 2015 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Quality of life after pulmonary resection is becoming an increasingly important part of the conversation between patients and surgeons. Pneumonectomy is often called a disease. The objective of this study was to assess the physical and mental aspects of patients' quality of life at least 1 year after pneumonectomy., Methods: Quality of life was ascertained using the Short Form-12 (SF-12) survey on a consecutive series of patients who were at least 1 year postoperative from a pneumonectomy. Both the physical and mental component scores of the quality-of-life survey were obtained and compared., Results: There were 152 patients who underwent pneumonectomy between January 1997 and December 2010 by the same surgeon (104 for non-small cell lung cancer); 111 patients met the eligibility criteria. Mean survival was 3.4 years and the overall 5-year Kaplan-Meier survival was 38%. Responses to the quality-of-life survey were obtained in 108 of 111 patients (98%) who were at least 1 year postoperative. The overall quality-of-life score was comparable with that of the healthy population and patients with chronic diseases. The mean physical component score was significantly lower than that of the healthy population score (P = .04); the mental quality-of-life score was higher than those for patients with certain chronic diseases such as liver or kidney disease (P = .05). After multivariate analysis, only age remained a significant predictor of the physical component score., Conclusions: Pneumonectomy is tolerated in carefully selected patients. The physical quality-of-life score 1 year after resection is significantly lower than the average population, yet the mental score in these patients is higher. Future studies on quality of life should be considered for all medical therapies, and stratification of the mental score from the physical score should be reported., (Copyright © 2012 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: The aim of the study was to examine the long-term health-related quality of life following surgery for lung cancer., Methods: We performed a prospective population-based cohort study to explore health-related quality of life after lung surgery. We used a validated quality-of-life instrument (Short Form-36 (SF-36)) to gather information on health-related quality of life at baseline, 6 months, and 2 years after surgery. The main outcome measures were the SF-36 physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) scores., Results: Between 2006 and 2008, 249 patients were included. The response rate at 6 months was 85% and, at 2 years of follow-up, was 95%. The study population consisted of 166 patients who completed all three SF-36 questionnaires. The PCS score decreased from baseline to 6 months (47.4 vs 41.1; p < 0.001) and remained unchanged at the 2-year follow-up (41.1 vs 41.4). The MCS score increased from baseline to 6 months (40.5 vs 44.6; p = 0.001), with a further improvement at 2 years (44.6 vs 46.9; p = 0.005). At 2-year follow-up, both the PCS score and the MCS score of the study population were lower than that of an age- and gender-matched reference population (41.4 vs 44.0; p = 0.013 and 46.9 vs 50.6; p = 0.01)., Conclusions: We found that patients undergoing surgery for lung cancer had an early decrease in the physical aspect of health-related quality of life at 6 months after surgery, which was still present at 2 years of follow-up. A moderate clinically relevant improvement was noted in the mental aspect at 6 months and further improvement was reported at 2 years of follow-up.

Introduction: Information is limited regarding health-related quality of life (QOL) status of long-term (greater than 5 years) lung cancer survivors (LTLCS). Obtaining knowledge about their QOL changes over time is a critical step toward improving poor and maintaining good QOL. The primary aim of this study was to conduct a 7-year longitudinal study in survivors of primary lung cancer which identified factors associated with either decline or improvement in QOL over time., Methods: Between 1997 and 2003, 447 LTLCS were identified and followed through 2007 using validated questionnaires; data on overall QOL and specific symptoms were at two periods: short-term (less than 3 years) and long-term postdiagnosis. The main analyses were of clinically significant changes (greater than 10%) and factors associated with overall QOL and symptom burden for each period and for changes over time., Results: Three hundred two (68%) underwent surgical resection only and 122 (27%) received surgical resection and radiation/chemotherapy. Recurrent or new lung malignancies were observed in 84 (19%) survivors. Significant decline or improvement in overall QOL over time were reported in 155 (35%) and 67 (15%) of 447 survivors, respectively. Among the 155 whose QOL declined, significantly worsened symptoms were fatigue (69%), pain (59%), dyspnea (58%), depressed appetite (49%), and coughing (42%). The symptom burden did not lessen among the 67 who reported improvement in overall QOL, suggesting that survivors had adapted to their compromised physical condition., Conclusions: LTLCS suffered substantial symptom burden that significantly impaired their QOL, indicating a need for targeted interventions to alleviate their symptoms.

The factors predicting initial readiness of patients with infiltrative pulmonary tuberculosis to give their consent to transthoracic interventions were investigated. It was shown that initial readiness of patients to give their consent to phthisiological treatment directly depended on the indices of "social functioning" and lymphocyte percentage in leukogram. The total prognosis algorithm with 94.1% sensitivity and 75% specificity is presented as discriminative function estimated by "social functioning" data, lymphocyte percentage in leukogram and ordinal evaluation of complaints to sweating.

Objective: To prospectively evaluate quality of life (QoL) evolution after sleeve lobectomy and pneumonectomy with the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QoL Questionnaire-C30 and LC-13., Methods: From January 2003 till December 2005, QoL was prospectively recorded after 10 sleeve lobectomies and 20 pneumonectomies. Questionnaires were administered before surgery and 1, 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively (MPO) with response rates of 100%, 90.0%, 76.7%, 80.0% and 73.3%, respectively., Results: Sleeve lobectomy was characterized by a 1 month temporary decrease in physical and social functioning scores after surgery (1MPO p = 0.026 and p = 0.048, respectively). After sleeve lobectomy, quality of life scores approximated baseline preoperative values 1 month after surgery. In the 12 months follow-up period after pneumonectomy, there was no return to baseline in physical and role functioning (12MPO p = 0.001 and p = 0.011, respectively). Pneumonectomy patients reported a significant increase in postoperative dyspnea (1MPO p = 0.027, 6MPO p = 0.025, 12MPO 0.021), general pain (1MPO p = 0.006, 3MPO p = 0.008, 6MPO p = 0.005, 12MPO p = 0.036), thoracic pain (6MPO p = 0.019) and shoulder dysfunction (6MPO p = 0.04, 12MPO p = 0.026).Comparing both resections, significant differences in evolution of physical functioning (1MPO p = 0.014, 3MPO p = 0.008, 6MPO p = 0.004), role functioning (1MPO p = 0.041), cognitive functioning (6MPO p = 0.005, 12MPO p = 0.013) and shoulder dysfunction (12MPO p = 0.049) were reported in favor of sleeve lobectomy., Conclusions: The high burden of dyspnea, general pain, thoracic pain and shoulder dysfunction reported after pneumonectomy, is not seen after sleeve lobectomy. In patients with anatomically appropriate early-stage lung cancer, sleeve lobectomy offers better quality of life than does pneumonectomy.

This study aims at evaluating the effects of lung volume reduction versus respiratory rehabilitation on quality of life, assessed by three different questionnaires. Sixty emphysematous patients were randomised by computer to receive either surgery (n = 30) or rehabilitation (n = 30). Life quality was evaluated by the Nottingham Health Profile, the Short Form (SF)-36 item and the St George's questionnaires. As reported previously, dyspnoea index, forced expiratory volume in one second, residual volume, 6-min walk test and arterial oxygen tension improved after surgery more than after rehabilitation. Quality of life was significantly improved after surgery as follows Nottingham Health Profile physical mobility; SF-36 physical and social functioning, mental and general health, emotional role; St George's general, activity. At multivariate analysis 6- and 12-month changes after surgery of Short Form-36 physical functioning, general health, and St George's activity domains were significantly correlated with forced expiratory volume in one second, while Short Form-36 social functioning and Nottingham Health Profile isolation correlated with residual volume. Functional and especially symptomatic improvements persisted: dyspnoea index, residual volume, and Short Form-36 and St Georges's physical scores were still significant at 4 yrs. Surgery produces greater and longer effects than rehabilitation on quality of life by improving both physical and psychosocial domains. Symptomatic improvements persisted at 4 yrs.