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Urinary symptoms in women receiving carboplatin/paclitaxel for treatment of gynecologic cancers
  1. Christopher J Strauchon1,
  2. Katherine L Dengler2,
  3. Daniel D Gruber2,
  4. Payam Katebi Kashi3,
  5. Mattew J Aungst4,
  6. Ann Trikhacheva2,
  7. Annette Bicher5 and
  8. Walter Von Pechmann6
  1. 1 Division of Urogynecology, Far Hills OB/GYN, Dayton, Ohio, USA
  2. 2 Division of Urogynecology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
  3. 3 Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Ob/Gyn, Inova Fairfax Medical Campus, Falls Church, Virginia, USA
  4. 4 Division of Urogynecology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Geisinger Health, Danville, Pennsylvania, USA
  5. 5 Division of Gynecology Oncology, Mid Atlantic Gynecology Oncology and Pelvic Surgery Associates, Fairfax, Virginia, USA
  6. 6 Division of Urogynecology and Pelvic Surgery, Mid-Atlantic Urogynecology and Pelvic Surgery, Annandale, Virginia, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Payam Katebi Kashi, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Ob/Gyn, Inova Fairfax Medical Campus, Falls Church VA 22042, Virginia, USA; pkatebi1{at}gmail.com

Abstract

Objectives Urinary incontinence is estimated to affect up to 34% of women with gynecologic cancers. Chemotherapeutic effects on urinary symptoms have been scarcely studied. The aim of our study was to examine the impact of carboplatin/paclitaxel chemotherapy on urinary symptoms.

Methods This was a prospective cohort study of all women undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy with carboplatin/paclitaxel after their primary debulking surgery for ovarian, fallopian tube, peritoneal, or endometrial cancers performed at a tertiary medical center by board certified gynecologic oncologists. We used validated questionnaires (incontinence impact questionnaire (IIQ-7), medical, epidemiologic, and social aspects of aging (MESA), urogenital distress inventory (UDI-6), the Sandvik severity index, and functional assessment of cancer therapy/GynecologicOncology Group-neurotoxicity (FACT/GOG-Ntx)) to assess the effects of carboplatin/paclitaxel therapy on the incidence and severity of urinary incontinence at three time points during the participants’ chemotherapy regimen: start of chemotherapy (pretreatment), during the fifth chemotherapy cycle (mid-cycle), and during the 6–12 week post-chemotherapy visit (post-treatment).

Results We identified 62 women with ovarian, fallopian, peritoneal, and endometrial cancer who received carboplatin/paclitaxel therapy between May 2009 and December 2012 who met all of the inclusion criteria. Analysis of median IIQ-7 scores, across all time points, showed a statistically significant difference (0.0 (0.0 to 4.8), 0.0 (0.0 to 7.1), 0.0 (0.0 to 0.0), p=0.002, respectively). Examining pairwise differences between two treatment points, IIQ-7 pretreatment versus mid-treatment and pretreatment versus post-treatment, did not achieve significance (0.0 (0.0 to 2.4), p=0.13 and 0.0 (0.0 to 0.0), p>0.999, respectively), but the decrease in IIQ-7 mid-treatment versus post-treatment was statistically significant (0.0 (−2.4 to 0.0), p=0.003). Generalized estimating equation model analysis also showed significant changes in both median MESA for urge urinary incontinence (MESA-UUI) and median MESA for stress urinary incontinence (MESA-SUI) across all time points (p=0.003 and p=0.009, respectively). MESA-UUI and MESA-SUI pretreatment versus mid-treatment analysis achieved significance (2.0 (0.0 to 4.0), p=0.003 and 0.0 (0.0 to 2.0), p=0.01, respectively), demonstrating an increase in the incidence of stress urinary incontinence and urge urinary incontinence. There was a statistically significant association between the changes in FACT and UDI-6 scores from pretreatment versus mid-treatment, with a correlation coefficient of 0.37 (95% CI 0.08 to 0.61, p=0.005).

Conclusion The study achieved its primary aim in demonstrating an impact of carboplatin/paclitaxel therapy on urinary incontinence severity and suggests if may be a factor leading to new onset or worsening urinary incontinence. As quality of life can be significantly impacted by these chemotherapeutic changes, further investigation is warranted to determine if the effects on urinary incontinence and neuropathy are transient or permanent.

  • quality of life (PRO)/palliative care
  • carcinoma
  • ovarian cancer
  • uterine cancer
  • neoplasm invasiveness

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Footnotes

  • Contributors CJS, KLD, and PKK: data collection and analysis, and manuscript writing and editing, DDG: manuscript writing and editing, MJA: research idea and protocol writing. AB: research idea, data collection, and manuscript editing. AT: manuscript writing and editing. WVP: research idea, data collection, and manuscript editing. All authors critically reviewed, edited, and agreed to publication of the manuscript.

  • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Patient consent for publication Not required.

  • Ethics approval The study protocol was approved by the Inova Health System Human Research Protection Program (Fairfax INOVA IRB #11.051).

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

  • Data availability statement Data are available upon reasonable request. In accordance with the journal’s guidelines, we will provide our data for the reproducibility of this study in other centers if such is requested.