DEVELOPMENT OF AN EORTC QUESTIONNAIRE MODULE TO BE USED IN QUALITY-OF-LIFE ASSESSMENT FOR PATIENTS WITH ESOPHAGEAL CANCER

Quality of life (QOL) assessments in patients with oesophageal cancer should provide clinically meaningful data that can assist management d ecision making. This study describes the development of a specific mod ule for oesophageal cancer to use with the European Organisation into Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QOL questionnaire, the EORTC QLQ-C30. Relevant QOL issues were generated from a literature search a nd interviews with patients and oesophageal cancer specialists. Issues were formulated into items compatible with those of the EORTC QLQ-C30 . The provisional module was pretested in patients from the United Kin gdom, Spain and Sweden. The resulting module, the QLQ-OES 24, includes 24 items conceptualised as containing six scales and five single item s. The addition of an oesophageal cancer-specific module to the core q uestionnaire should improve the sensitivity and specificity of the cor e instrument to allow detection of even small benefits accrued from ne w treatment modalities. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd