Three-month post-op EPIC scores predict functional outcomes

(HealthDay)—Three-month scores on the Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite (EPIC) predict urinary and sexual functional outcomes at 12 months, according to a study published in the October issue of The Journal of Urology.

Jonathan S. Ellison, M.D., from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and colleagues retrospectively reviewed a prospectively maintained database for patients treated with prostatectomy from 2000 to 2009. Preoperatively and at three- and 12-month follow-ups, EPIC scores, including sexual inventory (EPIC-S) and urinary inventory (EPIC-UIN) scores, were acquired.

The researchers found that there were 226 patients treated with open and 235 treated with robotic surgery. Compared with three-month scores, 12-month EPIC-UIN scores worsened in 2.7 percent, improved in 47.8 percent, and were stable in 49.4 percent of the 437 patients with complete questionnaires. EPIC-S scores at 12 months worsened compared with three-month scores in 3.9 percent, improved in 36.9 percent, and were stable in 59.2 percent of the 436 patients with complete questionnaires. Three-month EPIC-UIN scores of 50 or greater (odds ratio, 7.76) and EPIC-S scores of 45 or greater (odds ratio, 3.64; P < 0.0001 for both) predicted return to baseline.

"Three-month EPIC-UIN and EPIC-S scores were useful for predicting 12-month functional outcomes," the authors write.