Response shift effects in the assessment of urologic cancer patients' quality of life.

OBJECTIVE: Urologic cancer patients often assess their quality of life (QoL) as being relatively good. Response shift (change in internal standards) may be one reason for that effect. The aim of this study was to test such response shift effects. METHODS: A sample of 197 male urologic cancer patients was tested while hospitalised (t1) and three months later (t2). The participants had to assess their current health state and the health state of two anchoring vignettes. They also completed the EORTC QLQ-C30 and PHQ-4 questionnaires, including a retrospective thentest. The control sample was comprised of members of the general population. RESULTS: The patients rated their general health as being worse than people from the general population did (effect size: d = 0.73, p < 0.001). Moreover, the patients assessed the vignette presenting physical problems as being significantly healthier than people from the general population did (d = 0.42, p < 0.001). Under the retrospective thentest condition, the patients rated their QoL and their mental burden as being significantly worse than in the pre-test condition. Both methods showed response shift effects. CONCLUSION: Urologic cancer patients' assessments of their QoL should be handled with caution because of possible shifts in their internal standards of judgement.

How to get 133Xe into solution for blood flow studies: a technical note with an emphasis on neurosurgical patients.

OBJECTIVE: 133Xe has been widely used for measuring blood flow in various organs. Because an injectable solution of 133Xe is not commercially available, a technique is presented that allows both the production of the radiopharmaceutical and the drawing of individualized patient doses. METHOD: A system was designed to crush ampoules of 133Xe gas inside a sealed cylinder containing sodium chloride injection 0.9%. RESULTS: 133Xe ampoules of different sizes and filled with different activities were crushed within the system. The steel cylinder shielded 98% of the radiation. With 34 GBq 133Xe a total of 20 studies of cerebral blood flow were performed. No bacteriological contamination of the drawn doses was detected. CONCLUSION: The crusher system allows the efficient and safe production of an injectable solution of 133Xe with sodium chloride 0.9%.