Abstract

Objective

The aim of this study was to compare the quality of life (QOL) of high-risk breast cancer patients included in a randomized clinical trial (PEGASE 01) comparing conventional chemotherapy versus adding an additional high-dose chemotherapy (HDC) cycle with blood stem cell support.

Methods

A total of 314 patients were included in the clinical trial. QOL evaluations were available for 199 patients. QOL was assessed over a 1-year follow-up period, using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire C-30. The results were analyzed using a linear mixed-effects model.

Results

Toxicity of HDC has a strong negative impact on patients' QOL during the treatment phase. This negative impact tended to last longer in the HDC group, as for most of the QLQ-C30 scales, the QOL scores of HDC patients tend to improve at a slower rate than that of patients receiving standard chemotherapy. In particular, physical functioning remains deteriorated 1 year after inclusion for HDC patients comparatively to conventional chemotherapy patients (85.99 vs. 76.65, P = 0.021), and the pain score was still higher in the HDC group at that time (28.32 vs. 15.97, P = 0.004).

Conclusion

HDC has a negative impact on QOL even after treatment phase. In the absence of an overall survival benefit of using HDC for high-risk breast cancer patients, QOL studies with a longer follow-up play an important role in informing the complex trade-off implied by HDC between higher toxicity, reduced risk of relapse, and QOL decrease after the active phase of treatment.