HRQOL in Thyroid Cancer and Thyroid Tumours

Overview

Background: Most patients with thyroid cancer have a long life expectancy, and it has been assumed among health professionals that therefore the quality of life (QOL) is good. Some European studies have shown that the quality of life among thyroid cancers is worse than the general population, and almost as low as other cancer diagnoses, with a worse prognosis and a more burdening treatment. Aim: To examine prospectively the quality of life in participants undergoing diagnostic thyroid surgery and participants undergoing surgery for certain thyroid cancer. By examining both groups we wish to find answers if quality of life is affected, and if so - mostly affected by the diagnosis or the surgery itself. Methods: Participants enroll the study after informed consent, and quality of life will be assessed using quality of life questionnaires EORTC QLQ C30, EORTC THY 47 and EORTC FA12 before surgery, and 6 and 12 months after surgery. This study will form two main groups of participants; with and without thyroid cancer.

Most patients with thyroid cancer have a long life expectancy, and it has been assumed among health professionals that therefore the quality of life (QOL) is good. Some European studies have shown that the QOL among thyroid cancers is worse than the general population, and almost as low as other cancer diagnoses, with a worse prognosis and a more burdening treatment. This study aims to examine the quality of life in patients undergoing diagnostic surgery for thyroid tumour(s), or thyroid surgery as part of a cancer treatment. Participants will undergo standard work up and treatment for their thyroid tumour(s). Clinical data will be extracted from medical records at Oslo University Hospital (OUH). Questionnaires on Health related quality of life (HRQOL) are be filled out before surgery and at follow up visits at 6 and 12 months after surgery. Participants that do not meet at follow-up, will receive the questionnaires by mail. At the end of the study there will be three subgroups of participants: (a) Benign tumour, (b) Malignant tumour with radioiodine treatment, (c) Malignant tumour without radioiodine treatment. Questionnaires from European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) will be used, as they are well validated and relatively widely used. The EORTC QLQ C30 was chosen for a general view on HRQOL, as well as an available Norwegian general population for comparison. For a more disease specific questionnaire, the EORTC THY47 is used, a module of EORTC QLQ C30 on thyroid cancer. In addition we wish to capture a possibly important element in participants undergoing thyroid surgery, and where a fraction of participants may be hypothyroid for a period of time - therfore a fatigue module, the EORTC FA12 was added. Calculations on sample size were performed by statistician R Sørum Falk at the Centre of Biostatistics and Epidemiology of Oslo University Hospital. Intraobserver analysis of plotting and calculations is planned.