QUALITY-OF-LIFE AFTER INTRAVESICAL BCG-TH ERAPY

Not only ''objective'' response criteria, but also subjective criteria , such as therapy-induced side effects and quality of life have to be considered in the treatment of superficial bladder carcinoma. For this reason, a prospective survey of satisfaction with life and side effec ts of therapy was performed in a group of patients receiving intravesi cal BCG immunotherapy. The symptoms occurring during a six-week instil lation course were recorded daily by the patients on an appropriate qu estionnaire. Satisfaction with life was assessed before, during and af ter the treatment course by means of an additional questionnaire. A hi gh degree of satisfaction with life, insignificantly impaired by intra vesical therapy with BCG, was observed in this patient group. The occu rrence and course of local symptoms could be wellcharacterized by freq uent use of the side effects questionnaire. Side effects and satisfact ion with life correlated to a high degree. We can conclude that the as sessment of satisfaction with life and side efects of therapy by the d escribed methods could improve comparability of clinical studies on su perficial bladder carcinoma as well as evaluation of local symptoms du ring intravesical treatment.