Muscle-invasive bladder cancer: Quality of Care and Quality of Life in the Netherlands

Abstract

The aim of this thesis was to get insight in the quality of care delivered to the Dutch patient with muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Furthermore, for the patients undergoing radical cystectomy, the gold standard therapy, the patient reported outcome quality of life was measured, before and after the operation. The results of the study show that the Dutch 10-year relative survival rate is 25%. This percentage has not changed during the last decade. In the process of deciding on the method of treatment, age plays a bigger part than comorbidity. For patients that had undergone a radical cystectomy, the 30 days postoperative mortality was significantly higher in low volume hospitals (