ESTRO 2025 - Abstract Book

S4162

RTT - Patient experience and quality of life

ESTRO 2025

1273

Mini-Oral Using Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) to identify late toxicities following chemoradiation for anal cancer. Eve E Eaton 1 , Jasima Latif 1 , Richard Walshaw 1 , Karen Whitmarsh 1 , Lauren Oliver 2 1 Radiotherapy, The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, Liverpool, United Kingdom. 2 School of Allied Health Professions & Nursing, Liverpool, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom Purpose/Objective: Despite recent advancements in conformal treatment techniques, chemoradiation for anal cancer is often associated with late toxicities including bladder, bowel and sexual dysfunction. These sequelae are commonly referred to as ‘Pelvic Radiation Disease’ (PRD) symptoms, which present months/years post-treatment and can significantly impact patients’ quality of life (QOL) 1 . In the UK, five-year follow-up of anal cancer patients typically involves the use of clinician-reported outcomes (CROs) to assess incidence/severity of treatment-induced toxicities. However, previous studies show CROs underrepresent the true impact of toxicities experienced by patients 2,3 . This highlights the need for increased use of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs), to more accurately assess the long-term consequences of treatment on patients’ physical wellbeing and QOL. Research on electronic PROMs (ePROMs) to identify late toxicities following anal cancer treatment is lacking. This clinical audit aimed to utilise ePROMs to identify the incidence/severity of late toxicities following chemoradiation for anal cancer. Lifestyle factors during and post-treatment were also evaluated to determine any association with late toxicities. Material/Methods: The audit was undertaken at a large cancer centre in North West England. An electronic questionnaire was developed including the validated EORTC QLQ-ANL27 PROMs tool and lifestyle questions related to smoking status, alcohol/caffeine intake, exercise and nutrition during and post-treatment. Clinical audit approval was acquired. Participation/consent were obtained via telephone. The electronic questionnaire was disseminated to patients who completed radical chemoradiation at the cancer centre between 2018-2022 (n=129). The small sample size recruited did not yield sufficient statistical power for analysis of significance, thus descriptive statistics were employed. Results: 32 patients (58%) responded to the questionnaire. The mean age was 60 years old and the median follow-up was 28 months (7-63 months). Most patients (n=21; 66%) reported ongoing symptoms after chemoradiation were moderately-severely affecting their QOL (Figure 1). Patients reported late sexual, bowel and urinary toxicities including defecation frequency (n=26; 81%), urinary frequency (n=22; 69%) and absence of/limited sexual activity (n=24; 75%) (Figure 2). Faecal urgency, incomplete bowel movements, increased flatulence, disinterest in sex and female sexual dysfunction were also reported.