Description

Pancreatic cancer is an aggressive disease whose prognosis is generally unfavorable: less than 20% of patients results eligible for resection treatment with potentially curative purposes and only in 2019 in Italy 13,500 new cases were estimated. It represents one of the poorest prognosis with 8.1% survival at 5 years and 3% at 10 years.

Its treatments can have a negative effect on the quality of life linked to the health of patients (HRQoL). Over the past 20 years, the quality of life assessment has become an important component of evaluating new therapeutic approaches, providing indications on the patient's perception of the benefits of the treatments to which he undergoes. Therefore, an accurate assessment of HRQoL using valid and standardized tools is crucial to highlight the costs and benefits of the different therapeutic options and the clinical utility of the data.

Description of the intervention (schedule of visits):

Visit 1 (screening). Patients will be informed about the study. Once patients agree with the inclusion in the study the investigators will evaluate the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Those patients who meet all the inclusion criteria and none of the exclusion criteria will be finally included in the study. In this visit, patients, tumor-related variables, and general patients' features will be recorded, and all questionnaires will be administered EORTC QLQ 30, EORTC- PAN 26, HADS, Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory).

Enrolled patients will make a first psychological visit within one month of the initial diagnosis and before starting active medical treatment (chemotherapy, radiochemotherapy, surgery). During this visit, they will be asked to complete questionnaires aimed at assessing the quality of life (EORCT QLQ 30, EORCT PAN26) of the anxiety-depressant aspects related to the disease (HADS) and of the personological functioning (MCMI-III) to proceed psychological evaluation.

During the visit 2 (2-3 months after the first dose of planned chemotherapy and following an instrumental re-evaluation), the quality of life and the anxiety-depression symptoms related to the disease will be re-evaluated (EORCT QLQ 30, EORCT PAN26; HADS)

The researcher will record in a dedicated database all patient information, such as:

• Personal data (gender, age, schooling)
• Onset and related timing of anxiety disorders or mood before the disease onset
• Psychological or psychiatric visits before the disease onset
• Psychotropic drugs use/abuse
• Psychotherapeutic or psychological path in progress
• Family, social, religious /spiritual resources
• Eligibility for surgery
• Stage of illness
• Clinical treatment (type of chemotherapy, radiochemotherapy)
• Therapeutic result (response, progression stability)
• Any serious adverse events (SAE).

The same variables recorded at Visit 1 will be checked again.

Power size calculation:

The number of patients was calculated taking into account the main outcome. Assuming a positive correlation coefficient of 0.3 (effect size) between the change in anxiety depression levels and self-perceived quality of life, an 85% power, a 5% significance level and a drop-out percentage / missing data equal to 30%, it is estimated a sample size of 75 patients.