Ophthalmic cancer (update of QLQ-OPT30)
Project summary
Although very rare, intraocular cancers (with uveal melanoma being the most common type) and their treatment impact heavily on patients’ quality of life. A cross-culturally validated questionnaire would allow for international collaborative research as needed for these rare tumours. The EORTC QLQ-OPT30 specifically assesses quality of life in patients with ophthalmic cancer but it has never been cross-culturally validated. However, as it was developed almost 20 years ago, the module should be updated first.
The current project aims to update the EORTC QLQ-OPT30 through a literature review as well as patient and expert interviews (Phase 1&2). We will pretest the new version (phase 3), before carrying out a subsequent cross-cultural validation study (phase 4).
Achievements
We have completed the literature review and identified potential quality of life issues associated with new developments in the treatment of intraocular cancer since the development of the original questionnaire in 2004. Based on this we have developed a list of issues that is currently being tested for relevance in interviews.
Future plans
We expect to complete phase 1 interviews in summer 2025.
NOTE:
We are currently looking for collaborators willing to recruit uveal melanoma patients and conduct interviews (Phase 1) or recruit patients for later phases of the study.
If you would like to participate in our study, please contact:
Bernhard Holzner (PI)
Bernhard.holzner@tirol-kliniken.at
Veronika Engele (Study-coordinator)
For patients
Diagnosis and treatment of eye cancer severely impacts a patient’s quality of life. The assessment of quality of life is not only crucial in clinical studies developing new treatment approaches but can also improve awareness of health care professionals in clinical routine and help patients to get adequate support.
We are updating a questionnaire which was first developed in 2004 to assess the quality of life in adults with eye cancer. The first step of our study is to evaluate if the questionnaire sufficiently captures patients’ experiences.