Health-related quality of life in patients with solid tumors receiving implantable venous access ports for chemotherapy: A prospective randomized controlled trial

Panagiota Chrisanthopoulou; Gregoris Iconomou; Konstantinos Assimakopoulos; George Vlachopoulos; Thomas Makatsoris; Angelos Koutras; Dimitris Karnabatidis; Konstantinos Katsanos

doi:10.1016/j.ejon.2023.102445

Health-related quality of life in patients with solid tumors receiving implantable venous access ports for chemotherapy: A prospective randomized controlled trial

Eur J Oncol Nurs. 2023 Dec:67:102445. doi: 10.1016/j.ejon.2023.102445. Epub 2023 Oct 9.

Authors

Panagiota Chrisanthopoulou¹, Gregoris Iconomou², Konstantinos Assimakopoulos³, George Vlachopoulos⁴, Thomas Makatsoris², Angelos Koutras², Dimitris Karnabatidis¹, Konstantinos Katsanos⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Radiology, University Hospital Patras, School of Medicine, Rion, 26504, Greece.
² Department of Medical Oncology, University Hospital Patras, School of Medicine, Rion, Greece.
³ Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Patras, School of Medicine, Rion, Greece.
⁴ Department of Medical Physics, University Hospital Patras, School of Medicine, Rion, Greece.
⁵ Department of Radiology, University Hospital Patras, School of Medicine, Rion, 26504, Greece. Electronic address: katsanos@med.upatras.gr.

PMID: 37871414
DOI: 10.1016/j.ejon.2023.102445

Abstract

Purpose: Implantable venous access ports are widely used in patients receiving chemotherapy, but there is still scarce evidence about any patient-reported outcome measures. This prospective randomized controlled trial examined the impact on patients' quality-of-life following the placement of an implantable port device for long-term chemotherapy treatment.

Method: A total of 120 chemotherapy naïve adult outpatients scheduled to receive chemotherapy (duration ≥12 weeks) for solid tissue tumors in a single academic oncology unit were randomly allocated (n = 60 in each arm) between radiologically guided insertion of an implantable venous access port (PORT arm) or standard repeated peripheral venous access (Control arm). Health-related quality-of-life scores (HRQoL) were assessed with the EQ-5D-5L and the oncology-specific EORTC QLQ-C30 (version 3.0) questionnaires at baseline, 3- and 6-months post randomization. Non-parametric tests were applied and differences between medians (Δ) are reported because of skewed-left HRQoL data.

Results: Baseline clinical and demographic characteristics were well balanced between the two groups. There were no complications during insertion and no infection or device failure in the PORT subjects through the 6-month follow-up. The functional and symptom scales of the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire were similar between both study arms at all time intervals. The EORTC QLQ-C30 global health status was significantly improved in the PORT subjects both at 3 months (Δ: 8.3 out of 100; P = 0.04) and 6 months follow-up (Δ: 16.7 out of 100; P = 0.003). Changes in EQ-5D-5L scores were significantly improved at 6 months in the PORT arm compared to control (Δ: 0.074 out of 1; P = 0.01).

Conclusions: Implantable venous access ports may confer significantly improved patient-reported quality-of-life benefits in patients receiving chemotherapy for solid tissue tumors.

Keywords: Cancer; Chemotherapy; Patient-reported outcomes; Quality of life; Venous access; port.

Publication types

Randomized Controlled Trial

MeSH terms

Adult
Catheterization, Central Venous* / adverse effects
Central Venous Catheters*
Humans
Neoplasms* / drug therapy
Prospective Studies
Quality of Life