Quality of life: Gynaecological cancers

The clinical management of gynaecological cancer patients has been mainly f ocused on prolonging the survival of the patients. Thus, research on MEDLIN E using as keywords 'Quality of Life' (QoL) allowed us to identify few pape rs which reported data on QoL in gynecological oncology. However, the asses sment of QoL is becoming one of the most important issues in gynecological oncology, and there is a growing interest in including quality of life meas urements in clinical trials. In fact, in several randomised trials on ovari an cancer now ongoing in Europe, the evaluation of QoL has been planned. Th e one underlying this article focuses on the symptoms and problems particul ar to gynecologic cancer and the treatments of them that could affect quali ty of life evaluations. These include limitations of sexual activity and fe rtility, early menopause, chemotherapy induced toxicity, and loss of body i mage. In this report, we will discuss the aspects affecting the QoL in gyna ecological cancer in relation to surgical treatment, medical therapy, and f ollow-up.