Health-related Quality of Life and hospital costs of Finnish melanoma patients participating in the second Multicenter Selective Lymphadenectomy Trial (MSLT-II).

ABSTRACT:

Background and purpose

After reports that complete lymph node dissection (CLND) did not improve melanoma-specific survival of sentinel lymph node (SLN)-positive patients, the use of CLND has diminished but it is still carried out for selected patients. We sought to assess differences in Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) and tertiary care costs among the Finnish Multicenter Selective Lymphadenectomy Trial (MSLT)-II-patients.

Patients/materials and methods

A total of 52 patients randomized to CLND and 55 to nodal observation completed a modified version of the standardized and validated, RAND-36 questionnaire at baseline, 4 months and annually up to 5 years. Tertiary care costs between the groups were also compared.

Results

At 60 months, the mean HRQoL score for th

SUBMITTER: Heino PJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11833325 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature