Assessment of quality of life as an endpoint of cancer treatment

In order to evaluate the efficacy of cancer therapy, it is important to assess quality of life (QOL) as an endpoint in addition to tumor size reduction and survival. Thus, assessment of QOL has been included in many clinical trials of cancer therapy. These studies use various multiple QOL scales. We have translated the English version of the FACT-BL (Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy for Bladder Cancer) questionnaire into Japanese. In the process, we performed a comparative study simultaneously using this questionnaire and EORTC QLQ-C30J which is generally used for various cancer patients. We found that FACT-BL provides a more sensitive assessment of the QOL of patients with advanced bladder cancer than EORTC QLQ-C30J. This means that we should carefully choose a questionnaire which is directly related to disease site, symptoms and treatment and can be conducted clinically. In the future, the assessment of QOL will have an important role as an endpoint of cancer treatment if the methodology and infrastructure, such as coordinators and data centers, are established in Japan.