1. IMPACT OF PARACENTESIS ON HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY-OF-LIFE (HRQoL) IN WOMEN WITH OVARIAN CANCER (OC) AND MALIGNANT ASCITES (MA) Panagiotis Heras (1), Theodosis Andrianopoulos (1), Ioannis Tsiverdis (1), Ilias Georgopoulos (1), Antonios Hatzopoulos (1) (1) Clinic of Internal Medicine, General Hospital of Nafplio, GREECE

2. Introduction: Malignant ascites (MA) is an accumulation of fluid in the abdominal cavity due to uncontrolled tumor growth on the peritoneal surface. MA leads to a significantly impaired general health status and to poor quality-of-life (QoL). Paracentesis is the most common treatment for MA. Purpose: This study was designed to evaluate the impact of paracentesis on HRQoL in ovarian cancer (OC) women with MA. Methods: A prospective, observational study was conducted. The impact was measured by using EQ-5D before and within 1 day after paracentesis. Results were compared with EQ-5D utility scores of other health conditions reported in the literature.

3. Results: In total, 29 OC women were enrolled between 07/2010 – 08/2014. 45 paracenteses in 28 OC women were available for QoL analysis. Mean EQ-5D scores before (0,48+/-0,26) and after (0,56+/-0,30) paracentesis revealed a mean increase of 0,08+/-0,25, indicating a 17% improvement. QoL improved after 44,4% of paracenteses, remained unchanged after 26,7%, and even deteriorated after 28,9%. Literature research for other conditions revealed 0,56 mean score for haemodialysis patients (1) and 0,48 mean score for patients with chemotherapy-induced-anaemia (2). Conclusions: In over 50% of OC women undergoing paracentesis for MA, no benefit in terms of HRQoL was detected. Before paracentesis, MA patients reported HRQoL equivalent to patients with chemotherapy-induced-anaemia. Even after an improvement with paracentesis, patients’ HRQoL improved only to a mean level of haemodialysis patients. Study results confirmed poor HRQoL in OC women with MA even after paracentesis.