Quality of life for patients with Hepatocellular carcinoma undergoing Radio frequency Ablation

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Professor of Medical Surgical Nursing ,Faculty of Nursing, Ain Shams University-Cairo-Egypt.

2 Assistant Professor of Medical Surgical Nursing Faculty of Nursing, Ain Shams University-Cairo-Egypt.

3 Lecturer of Interventional Radiology Faculty of Nursing, Ain Shams University-Cairo-Egypt.

4 Faculty of Medicine, M.Sc Faculty of Nursing, Ain Shams University-Cairo-Egypt.

Abstract

Background:Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is considered as one of the most
challenging tumors with high incidence, prevalence and mortality rates. Radiofrequency
Ablation (RFA) is one of the emerging therapeutic modalities used for the minimally
invasive treatment in the management of early-stage of HCC. Aim: This study aimed to
assess quality of life for patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma undergoing Radio
Frequency Ablation. Design: Descriptive design was used to achieve the aim of this study.
Setting:This study was conducted at the Interventional Radiology Unit, affiliated to Ain
Shams University Hospital Subject: A purposive sample of 50 patients with Hepatocellular
Carcinoma. undergoing RadioFrequency Ablation. Tools: (I)Structured Interview
Questionnaire for patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma undergoing Radio Frequency
Ablation. It is composed of three parts. Socio-demographic characteristic, Assessment of
Patients' medical health and knowledge about HCC and RFA. (II) Quality of life of cancer
Survivors Questionnaire. Results: The present study revealed that near two thirds of
patients had an unsatisfactory level of knowledge to all items about HCC and
RFA. On the other hand there were statistically insignificant relations between the
patient's Quality of life and their level of knowledge. Conclusion: More one half of the
studied patients had Low QoL regarding physical, social, emotional, functional and Spiritual
wellbeing. The most prominent physical problem with low effect quality of life of physical
dimension among the studied patients were chest pain, lack of energy recurrent infection and
urinary retention. Social and family problem concerning with low quality of life of social and
family dimension was treatment cost as burden on patient's family. Recommendations:
Health education programs about disease and its treatment modalities should be provided for
HCC patients using new methods of teaching such as computer assisted instructions and
home videos should be performed. Further studies about the effect of the bio-psychosocial
needs on the patients` quality of life and outcomes.

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