Lebensqualität bei intravesikaler Instillationstherapie mit Bacillus Calmette-Guérin

Not only “objective” response criteria, but also subjective criteria, such as therapy-induced side effects and quality of life have to be considered in the treatment of superficial bladder carcinoma. For this reason, a prospective survey of satisfaction with life and side effects of therapy was performed in a group of patients receiving intravesical BCG immunotherapy. The symptoms occurring during a sixweek instillation course were recorded daily by the patients on an appropriate questionnaire. Satisfaction with life was assessed before, during and after the treatment course by means of an additional questionnaire. A high degree of satisfaction with life, insignificantly impaired by intravesical therapy with BCG, was observed in this patient group. The occurrence and course of local symptoms could be wellcharacterized by frequent use of the side effects questionnaire. Side effects and satisfaction with life correlated to a high degree. We can conclude that the assessment of satisfaction with life and side efects of therapy by the described methods could improve comparability of clinical studies on super-ficial bladder carcinoma as well as evaluation of local symptoms during intravesical treatment.

Key words:

Bladder carcinoma - Intravesical therapy - Bacillus Calmette-Guérin - Quality of life - Side effects