BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - Our article Quality of life, behavior problems and marital adjustment in the first year after radical prostatectomy brings the results of a pilot study with patients that underwent radical prostatectomy in our urology center in three suburban cities nearby Sao Paulo, Brazil. Since it’s a pilot study, there are several limitations in its methodology, such as a small sample and a single evaluation taking place after the surgery.
We chose to begin this research line in such way aiming to see the reliability and feasibility of the instruments we used. We consider this goal was achieved and the questionnaires demonstrated to be reliable, although because of the patients’ low socioeconomic and educational level, they weren't able to answer the questions by themselves, needing someone to read out loud for them. One of the differences in our study when compared to others in the same area was the use of behavioral problems scales, which, in our opinion, can assess a broad range of problems instead of specific difficulties.
We found the results we obtained somewhat interesting. First, we confirmed that in this sample the quality of life is not significantly affected after radical prostatectomy. We also observed that smoking habits had a negative impact in marital adjustment and quality of life, which is one additional contribution to the already known impact of tobacco use not only in health issues, but in quality of life in general. As expected, erectile dysfunction (ED) was associated to lower quality of life scores. We could see this problem not only in the scores of our instruments, but also in the speech of our patients' speech. ED was often quoted as a major preoccupation, even when the patient had no sexual life at the moment (before surgery). They usually spoke of a loss of their “manhood”. Therefore, addressing ED is crucial to maintain the psychological health of these patients.
Since this pilot study was successful, we intent to extend our research by increasing the sample size, evaluating patients before they are submitted to surgery and planning psychological interventions that could reduce the period patients take to return to normal functioning levels.
Written by:
Rodrigo Fernando Pereira, Ph.D., Yasmin Spaolonzi Daibs, psychologis, Marcos Tobias-Machado, MD, Ph.D., and Antonio Carlos Lima Pompeo, MD, Ph.D. as part of Beyond the Abstract on UroToday.com. This initiative offers a method of publishing for the professional urology community. Authors are given an opportunity to expand on the circumstances, limitations etc... of their research by referencing the published abstract.
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