PubMed · 10286791
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M G Spencer. 1987. Profiling the very old.. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10286791/
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STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective analysis of the long-term outcomes of standard discectomy for lumbar disc herniation. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the long-term outcomes of standard discectomy to address postoperative problems, including residual low back pain and recurrent herniation. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Most previous investigators found that favorable outcomes of standard discectomy were maintained for the long-term postoperative period. Although they observed postoperative complications such as residual low back pain and recurrent herniation, detailed analyses of these results have not been conducted. METHODS: The long-term follow-up results in patients who were observed for a minimum of 10 years after standard discectomy were evaluated by using the Japanese Orthopedic Association scoring system through direct examinations and questionnaires. Radiography also was used in patients who agreed to visit the hospital, and findings were compared with those on preoperative radiographs. RESULTS: The average recovery rate calculated by using Japanese Orthopedic Association scores was 73.5 +/- 21.7%. Even though residual low back pain was found in 74.6% of the patients, only 12.7% had severe low back pain. The majority of the patients with severe low back pain were under 35 years of age at the time of operation, with preoperative advanced disc degeneration. The final Japanese Orthopedic Association scores in the patients with decreased disc height were significantly lower than those in patients with no decrease. However, the disc height of patients with a recurrent herniation was preserved. CONCLUSION: The long-term outcome of standard discectomy in this series was favorable. Although patients with preserved disc height generally had favorable results, the risk of recurrent disc herniation was high in this population.
PURPOSE: To report the reliability and validity of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Ovarian (FACT-O) in a consecutive series of outpatients with epithelial ovarian cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Two hundred thirty-two ovarian cancer patients attending an outpatient gynecologic oncology clinic completed questionnaires at baseline. The patients' FACT-O scores were compared with their performance status, disease stage, treatment status, and other factors hypothesized to be related to quality of life. Patients received a second questionnaire either one week after baseline to assess the instrument's test-retest reliability and/or two months after baseline to evaluate its sensitivity to change in performance status. RESULTS: Internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the FACT-O were adequate. Overall, the scales correlated with other measures as expected; all correlations were in the hypothesized direction. Patients with advanced disease, poor performance status, and who were receiving active treatment had lower scores on physical, functional, and ovarian cancer-specific scales. The total FACT-O and emotional well-being scores were lower for patients with poor performance status and patients in active treatment. The FACT-O total and all subscale scores except emotional well-being were sensitive to decreases in performance status. CONCLUSION: Overall, the FACT-O provides a reliable and valid assessment of the quality of life of women with ovarian cancer, and is appropriate as a brief quality of life assessment in clinical trials and descriptive studies.
CONTEXT: Improving health-related quality of life (HRQL) is an important goal of palliative treatment, but little is known about actual patient-physician communication regarding HRQL topics during palliative treatment. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the content of routine communication regarding 4 specific HRQL issues between oncologists and their patients and to identify patient-, physician-, and visit-specific factors significantly associated with discussion of such issues. DESIGN: Observational study conducted between June 1996 and January 1998. SETTING: Outpatient palliative chemotherapy clinic of a cancer hospital in the Netherlands. PARTICIPANTS: Ten oncologists and 240 of their patients (72% female; mean age, 55 years) who had incurable cancer and were receiving outpatient palliative chemotherapy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Patient and physician questionnaires and audiotape analysis of communication regarding daily activities, emotional functioning, pain, and fatigue during an outpatient consultation using the Roter Interaction Analysis System. RESULTS: Physicians devoted 64% of their conversation to medical/technical issues and 23% to HRQL issues. Patients' communication behavior was divided more equally between medical/technical issues (41%) and HRQL topics (48%). Of the independent variables investigated, patients' self-reported HRQL was the most powerful predictor of discussing HRQL issues. Nevertheless, in 20% to 54% of the consultations in which patients were experiencing serious HRQL problems, no time was devoted to discussion of those problems. In particular, these patients' emotional functioning and fatigue were unaddressed 54% and 48% of the time, respectively. Discussion of HRQL issues was not more frequent in consultations in which tumor response was evaluated. CONCLUSION: Despite increasing recognition of the importance of maintaining patients' HRQL as a goal of palliative treatment, the amount of patient-physician communication devoted to such issues remains limited and appears to make only a modest contribution, at least in an explicit sense, to the evaluation of treatment efficacy in daily clinical practice.