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Impact of skeletal complications on patients’ quality of life, mobility, and functional independence

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An Erratum to this article was published on 15 August 2008

Abstract

Introduction

Skeletal-related events (SREs) from malignant bone disease cause considerable morbidity and can dramatically reduce patients’ quality of life.

Discussion

Pathologic fractures often require surgical intervention and palliative radiotherapy. Thus, patients suffer impaired mobility, loss of functional independence, and diminished health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Bisphosphonates can delay the onset and reduce the incidence of SREs and have become the standard of care for the treatment of malignant bone disease; however, minimal information on the effects of bisphosphonate treatment on HRQOL is available. Targeted HRQOL assessments for patients with malignant bone disease are currently under development and are discussed herein.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Dr. Colin Johnson, Chair of EORTC Quality of Life Module Development, and Dr. Andrew Bottomley, Head of the EORTC Quality of Life Unit, for use of the EORTC QLQ-BM22 module (Table 2). The module is provisional, currently undergoing phase III international validation, and is subject to change based on phase III results. Funding for medical editorial assistance was provided by Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. We thank Tamalette Loh, PhD, ProEd Communications, Inc.®, for her medical editorial assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Medicina Molecular-Lisboa, Servico de Oncologia, Hospital de Santa Maria, Av Professor Egaz Moniz, Lisbon, 1649-039, Portugal

    Luis Costa

  2. Health Economics and Outcomes Research, Doctor Ferran 25, 2°, Barcelona, 08034, Spain

    Xavier Badia

  3. Radiation Oncology, Toronto-Sunnybrook Regional Cancer Centre, 2075 Bayview Ave., Toronto, ON, M4N 3M5, Canada

    Edward Chow

  4. Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Pennsylvania State University, 500 University Drive, Hershey, PA, 17033, USA

    Allan Lipton

  5. Cancer Research Department of Medical Oncology, Christie Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, 550 Wilmslow Road, Manchester, M20 4BX, UK

    Andrew Wardley

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Correspondence to Luis Costa.

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An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00520-008-0496-z

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Costa, L., Badia, X., Chow, E. et al. Impact of skeletal complications on patients’ quality of life, mobility, and functional independence. Support Care Cancer 16, 879–889 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-008-0418-0

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