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. 2023 May 17;13(5):e070327.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-070327.

Experiences of patients and their relatives of postoperative radiological surveillance and surveillance intensity following primary resection of a soft tissue sarcoma and its impact on their quality of life: a systematic review protocol

Danielle Maes  1 , Christel McMullan  2   3   4   5 , Samuel J Ford  1 , Roger Wilson  6 , Raymond Oppong  7 , Olalekan Lee Aiyegbusi  8   4   5   9
Affiliations

Experiences of patients and their relatives of postoperative radiological surveillance and surveillance intensity following primary resection of a soft tissue sarcoma and its impact on their quality of life: a systematic review protocol

Danielle Maes et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Introduction: Postoperative radiological surveillance following primary resection of a soft tissue sarcoma (sarcoma of the retroperitoneum, abdomen, pelvis, trunk or extremities) is standard of care in all international high-volume sarcoma centres in the world. The intensity of postoperative surveillance imaging is highly varied and knowledge of the impact of surveillance and surveillance intensity on patients' quality of life is limited. The aim of this systematic review is to summarise the experiences of patients and their relatives/caregivers of postoperative radiological surveillance following resection of a primary soft tissue sarcoma and its impact on their quality of life.

Methods and analysis: We will systematically search MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL Plus and Epistemonikos. Hand searching of reference lists of included studies will be conducted. Further searches will be performed via Google Scholar, to reveal further studies within unpublished 'grey' literature. Two reviewers will independently screen the titles and abstracts following the eligibility criteria. After retrieval of the full text of the selected studies, the methodological quality will be appraised using the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Checklist for Qualitative Research and the Center for Evidence-Based Management checklist for Critical Appraisal of a Cross-Sectional Study. Data on the study population, relevant themes and conclusions will be extracted from the selected papers, and a narrative synthesis will be conducted.

Ethics and dissemination: The systematic review does not require ethics approval. The findings of the proposed work will be published in a peer-reviewed journal and disseminated widely to patients, clinicians and allied health professionals through the Sarcoma UK website, the Sarcoma Patient Advocacy Global Network and the Trans-Atlantic Australasian Retroperitoneal Sarcoma Working Group. In addition, the outcomes of this research will be presented at national and international conferences.

Prospero registration number: CRD42022375118.

Keywords: MENTAL HEALTH; QUALITATIVE RESEARCH; Sarcoma.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: CM receives funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Surgical Reconstruction and Microbiology Research Centre, the NIHR Blood and Transplant Research Unit (BTRU) in Precision Transplant and Cellular Therapeutics, Innovate UK, and Anthony Nolan and has received personal fees from Aparito outside the submitted work. OLA receives funding from the NIHR Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC), West Midlands, NIHR Blood and Transplant Research Unit (BTRU) in Precision Transplant and Cellular Therapeutics at the University of Birmingham and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation, the Health Foundation, Merck, Innovate UK (part of UK Research and Innovation), Gilead Sciences, Anthony Nolan and Sarcoma UK. OLA declares personal fees from Gilead Sciences, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Merck outside the submitted work. RW is the founder of Sarcoma UK but retains no role in its management, working solely as a volunteer patient. The remaining authors declare no competing interests. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. Funders had no role in the design and conduct of the study, including the collection, management, analysis and interpretation of the data, and preparation and review of the manuscript.

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