Patient-reported outcomes in subjects with neuroendocrine tumors of the pancreas

AIM: To assess the patient-reported outcomes (PROs) of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor (PNET) patients. METHODS: Fifty-one consecutive patients (21 male, 30 female, 61.0 +/- 10.3 years) with proven PNETs were studied. An SF-12 questionnaire capable of exploring the physical (PCS) and mental (MCS) aspects of daily life was used. Four questionnaires were also used [12 items General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) for non-psychotic psychiatric disorders, State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) Y-1 and Y-2 for anxiety and BDI-II for depressive symptoms] to explore the psychological aspects of the disease. Forty-four sex- and age-matched Italian normative subjects were included and evaluated using the SF-12, STAI Y-1 and Y-2 questionnaires. RESULTS: Seven patients refused to participate to the study; they were clinically similar to the 44 participants who agreed to complete the questionnaires. PNET patients had a PCS score (44.7 +/- 11.0) were not significantly different from the norms (46.1 +/- 9.9, P = 0.610), whereas the MCS score was significantly lower in patients (42.4 +/- 13.0) as compared to the norms (48.2 +/- 9.8, P = 0.036). GHQ-12 identified 11 patients (25.0%) as having non-psychotic psychiatric disorders. The STAI scores were similar in the patients and in the normative population. Finally, BDI-II identified eight patients (18.2%) with moderate depression and 9 (20.5%) with mild depression whereas 27 patients (61.4%) had no depression. CONCLUSION: The PNET patients had a good physical but an impaired mental component of their quality of life; in addition, mild or moderate depressive symptoms are present in about 40% of PNET patients. (C) 2009 The WJG Press and Baishideng. All rights reserved.