Unmet needs in sexual health in bladder cancer patients: a systematic review of the evidence

Abstract

Background: Bladder cancer (BC) treatment can have a detrimental effect on the sexual organs of patients and yet assessment of sexual health needs has been greatly overlooked for these patients compared to those who have undergone other cancer therapies. Methods: This review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines in July 2019. Studies were identified by conducting searches for Medline (using the PubMed interface), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) and Ovid Gateway (Embase and Ovid) using a list of defined search terms. Results: 15 out of 37 studies included men only, 10 studies women only and 11 both sexes. Most participants were aged 50 to 65 years. Most studies (n = 34) focused on muscle invasive BC and only three on non-muscle invasive BC. Measurements of sexual dysfunction, including erection, ejaculation, firmness and desire, were the most commonly used measurements to report sexual health in men. In women, lubrification/dryness, desire, orgasm and dyspareunia were the most commonly reported. Twenty-one studies evaluated sexual dysfunction based on validated questionnaires, two with a non-validated questionnaire and through interviewing participants. Conclusion: While recognition of the importance of the inclusion of psychometric measurements to assess sexual health is growing, there is a lack of consistent measures to assess sexual health in BC. With the focus on QoL arising in cancer survivorship, further studies are needed to develop, standardize and implement use of sexual health questionnaires with appropriate psychometrics and social measures to evaluate QoL in BC patients. Trial registration: "PROSPERO does not currently accept registrations for scoping reviews, literature reviews or mapping reviews. PROSPERO is therefore unable to accept your application or provide a registration number. This decision should not stop you from submitting your project for publication to a journal."

Designing a Pragmatic Intervention to Help Improve the Bladder Cancer Patient Experience

“…Phase 1 of the modified MRC framework resulted in 3 published literature reviews. 12 – 14 In the mental wellbeing literature review, no mental wellbeing interventions specifically designed for BC patients were identified, and so our systematic review for this topic was extended to assess mental wellbeing interventions for all urological cancer types—with a specific focus on reported endpoints as well as the structure and type of the interventions. In this literature review we found that couple base interventions provided the best results, and depression was the most commonly reported endpoint.…”

“…There is a lack of consistent measures to assess sexual wellbeing in BC patients; in particular, there is a lack of validated questionnaires with appropriate psychometrics and social measures. 12 …”

“…There is a lack of consistent measures to assess sexual wellbeing in BC patients; in particular, there is a lack of validated questionnaires with appropriate psychometrics and social measures. 12 In our scoping review on physical activity interventions for BC patients, we reported on the structure and processes of physical activity interventions that may lead to better oncological outcomes. BC survivors were found to be more interested in an exercise program specially designed for them in a face-to-face format.…”

“…Three systematic reviews were conducted following the PRISMA guidelines 11 to specifically address the following 3 questions for BC patients: Details on methodology have been reported elsewhere. [12][13][14][15] Phase 2…”

Indications for fertility preservation not included in the 2017 Japan Society of Clinical Oncology Guideline for Fertility Preservation in Pediatric, Adolescent, and Young Adult Patients treated with gonadal toxicity, including benign diseases

“…If patients require chemotherapy, testicular sperm extraction is recommended prior to treatment. Total cystectomy can also affect fertility by causing ejaculation failure, so after treatment, patients will also require testicular sperm extraction for reproduction [ 12 ].…”