Open Access

ARTICLE

Exploration of health-related quality of life areas that may distinguish between continent diversion and ileal conduit patients

Alvaro Ramirez¹, Paul Perrotte¹, Luc Valiquette¹, Francois Benard¹, Mike McCormack¹, Fred Saad¹, Caroline Fournier¹, Shahrokh Shariat², Pierre I. Karakiewicz¹

1 Department of Urology, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
2 University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, Texas, USA
Address correspondence to Dr. Pierre I. Karakiewicz, CHUM, Campus St-Luc, 1058 rue St-Denis, Montreal, Quebec H2X 3J4 Canada

Canadian Journal of Urology 2005, 12(1), 2537-2542.

Abstract

Objectives: We explored the specific impact of urinary diversion type on HRQOL in men after cystectomy for bladder cancer. Our intent was to provide a basis for the development of a diversion-specific instrument.
Methods: We invited 13 ileal conduit and 12 orthotopic urinary diversion (neo-bladder) male patients to several open-ended interviews. We explored HRQOL domains that may have been affected by cystectomy and urinary diversion, and that could then be used to form a basis for a diversion-specific HRQOL measure.
Results: The average age of neo-bladder patients was 59 versus 65 years for ileal conduit patients. We identified 10 HRQOL domains, ranging from involuntary urine leakage to dietary modifications, which were recognized as important by ileal conduit and neobladder patients. Within each domain, a sufficient amount of overlap existed to allow developing a measure that might be applied to both groups of patients.
Conclusions: Ten HRQOL domains were identified as important by ileal conduit and neobladder patients. These demonstrated a significant amount of overlap between conduit and neobladder patients. Potentially, these domains could be used to develop scales for distinguishing between conduit and neobladder-specific HRQOL detriments.

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