Quality of life following colorectal cancer surgery: the role of alexithymia.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Alexithymia refers to a set of cognitive and emotional deficits. Its effect on surgical outcome has been demonstrated but no studies have been published on colorectal cancer patients. STUDY DESIGN: A series of 60 consecutive colorectal cancer patients were enrolled in a 3-year prospective study on quality of life by using the SF-36 test and Toronto Alexithymia Scale questionnaires. Patients were investigated pre- and postoperatively (before discharge and then 1 and 3 months thereafter). The control group consisted of patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy for cholelithiasis. These two groups were divided into two subsets high-level alexithymia (HA) and low-level alexithymia (LA). The prevalence of HA was 34% in colorectal patients and 35% in cholelithiasis patients. RESULTS: During the postoperative period, in the colorectal group the SF-36 score was significantly higher in HA than in LA subsets. This result was confirmed in the cholelithiasis group. During follow-up, a progressive reduction of the SF-36 score was observed in both HA populations. DISCUSSION: Results emerging from this investigation demonstrate that surgery significantly improves the quality of life in HA patients. These findings suggest that alexithymia might be advantageous in evaluating the adaptation after surgery in the short follow-up period.