The quality of life during intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guerin therapy

Purpose: In the treatment of cancer the subjective evaluation of therapy induced side effects and quality of life must be considered. Adjuvant intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) immunotherapy is regarded as highly effective but associated with significant side effects. To clarify whether these side effects significantly impact on patient satisfaction with life, a prospective survey of the health related quality of life and side effects was performed during an intravesical BCG treatment course. Materials and Methods: Symptoms and side effects were recorded daily during the 6-week instillation period in 30 patients. The quality of life was determined before, during and after intravesical therapy with the assistance of a self-reported questionnaire. Results: Due to a detailed subjective assessment of side effects, the course of local symptoms could be characterized with great reliability. Although side effects occurred, satisfaction with life in the patients studied was high and was not impaired during the treatment. The incidence of side effects correlated well with patient subjective evaluation of quality of life. Conclusions: Assessment of side effects and quality of life, as presented in this pilot study, can assist in the quantification of localized symptoms in intravesical therapy and could contribute to the comparability of clinical studies. With regard to intravesical BCG immunotherapy, our results suggest that the specific side effects do not seriously impair satisfaction with life in these patients.