Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 May;22(5):521-528.
doi: 10.1111/codi.14925. Epub 2020 Jan 5.

Quality of life and functional outcomes following pelvic exenteration and sacrectomy

A S E McCarthy  1   2 , M J Solomon  1   2   3   4 , C E Koh  1   3   4 , A Firouzbakht  1   2 , S A Jackson  5 , D Steffens  1   2
Affiliations

Quality of life and functional outcomes following pelvic exenteration and sacrectomy

A S E McCarthy et al. Colorectal Dis. 2020 May.

Abstract

Aim: The aim was to compare postoperative quality of life (QOL) between patients undergoing pelvic exenteration (PE) and pelvic exenteration with sacrectomy (PES), and to investigate the influence of high (L5-S2) vs low (≤ S3) sacrectomy on QOL and functional outcomes.

Method: Patients undergoing en bloc sacrectomy as part of a PE and PE alone from 2008 to 2015 were identified from a prospectively maintained database. QOL and functional outcomes were assessed using the 36-Item Short Form Survey, the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Colorectal Cancer questionnaire and Quality of Life questionnaire, the Revised Musculoskeletal Tumour Scale, the Lower Extremity Functional Scale, the Sexual Health Inventory for Men and the Female Sexual Function Index.

Results: Of the 344 patients identified, data were available for 116 patients who underwent PE alone and 140 patients who underwent PES. PES patients had significantly poorer physical component scores (P < 0.001) but not mental component scores (P = 0.17). Of the 140 PES patients, 55 were eligible and were invited to participate in a second functional survey, with 30 patients returning the study questionnaire. High sacrectomy patients, compared with low sacrectomy, had significantly worse lower limb motor function (P = 0.03) and poorer physical (P = 0.001) and mental health component scores (P = 0.02). No differences were found in sexual, bladder and bowel function between high and low sacrectomy patients.

Conclusions: Patients undergoing PES had worse physical component scores compared with PE alone, whereas high sacrectomy patients had significantly worse lower limb motor function and physical and mental component scores but comparable bowel, bladder and sexual functional outcomes compared with low sacrectomy patients.

Keywords: functional outcomes; pelvic exenteration; quality of life; sacrectomy.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Milne T, Solomon MJ, Lee P et al. Sacral resection with pelvic exenteration for advanced primary and recurrent pelvic cancer: a single-institution experience of 100 sacrectomies. Dise Colon Rectum 2014; 57: 1153-61.
    1. Fourney DR, Rhines LD, Hentschel SJ et al. En bloc resection of primary sacral tumours: classification of surgical approaches and outcome. J Neurosurg Spine 2005; 3: 111-22.
    1. Moran D, Zadnik PL, Taylor T et al. Maintenance of bowel, bladder, and motor functions after sacrectomy. Spine J 2015; 15: 222-9.
    1. Charest-Morin R, Dea N, Fisher CG. Health-related quality of life after spine surgery for primary bone tumour. Curr Treat Options Oncol 2016; 17; 9.
    1. Brown KGM, Solomon MJ, Koh CE. Pelvic exenteration surgery: the evolution of radical surgical techniques for advanced and recurrent pelvic malignancy. Dis Colon Rectum 2017; 60: 745-54.

LinkOut - more resources