ASSESSMENT OF SURVIVAL AND QUALITY OF LIFE WITH COLORETAL CANCER
Josiane Della Valentina de Oliveira; Carla Alves Dalmonte de Medeiros; Debora Dummer Meira

Colorrectal cancer (CCR) is the third cause of cancer around the world and its treatment is done by the use of antineoplastic drugs alone or combined to monoclonal antibodies. However, the effects of these combinations on the patient’s quality of life are, until now, poorly understood.

Objectives: Verify the influence of fluorouracil, leucovorin, oxaliplatin (FOLFOX) and irinotecan (FOLFIRI) treatments alone or when associated to bevacizumab monoclonal antibody related to CCR patient’s quality of life.

Methods: 15 patients with CCR were interviewed and divided in groups based on the treatments received, and its quality of life was evaluated through the questionnaires EORTC-QLQ-C30/version 3.0 and EORTC-QLQ-CR38.

Results: We notice that patients without metastasis presented a better quality of life when compared to patients with metastasis. Indeed, we observed a tendency to a better quality of life in the group of patients with metastasis when treated with FOLFOX associated to bevacizumab when compared to the group that used FOLFOX alone. Patients with metastasis, when treated with FOLFIRI associated to bevacizumab, although presented a better function scale, also showed more symptoms when compared to patients with metastasis treated only with FOLFIRI. According to literature reports, the association of bevacizumab with conventional therapy demonstrated a tendency to promote an increase in overall survival and a reduction in the disease progression in an average of 5-6 months.

Conclusion: The association of bevacizumab with conventional therapy demonstrated a tendency to increase patient’s quality of life, characterized by an increase in its overall survival and progression-free survival.

Descriptors: colorrectal cancer, quality of life, FOLFOX, FOLFIRI, bevacizumab.