Psychosocial Factors of the Quality of Life in Cancer Patients after Lower Limb Amputation: Problem Statement and Research Methodology

The expansion of modern medicine with the latest prosthetics makes relevant the issue of adequate psychological assistance to patients undergoing amputations. The article analyzes the world experience in the study of the quality of life and psychological adaptation to the disease of patients with onco-orthopedic pathology and shows the authors’ experience in the field. An interdisciplinary project developed by specialists from the Saint Petersburg State University (Saint Petersburg) and the N. N. Blokhin National Medical Research Center of Oncology (Moscow) is devoted to the study of the psychological and social factors of patients’ recovery after lower limb amputation, including their return to professional and social activity. The research methodology and technology, which were aimed at assessing objective indicators of the patients’ functional state after amputation in comparison with subjective indicators of quality of life, individual and socio-psychological patients’ characteristics, are justified. The study design reflects a comparative analysis of the main parameters of quality of life and factors influencing it in groups of patients who underwent amputation due to cancer, compared with patients who underwent amputation of the lower limb due to non-oncological diseases (diabetes and atherosclerosis). The study of the patients’ psychological status and quality of life will be carried out in connection with the characteristics of the disease course and treatment. It will provide a personal approach to patients’ rehabilitation and will make the recovery process more effective and less lasting. The developing and introduction of a psychological support program in the preoperative, postoperative and rehabilitation periods for patients undergoing amputation of the lower limb is planned.

quality of life, psychological factors, emotional status, social activity, phantom pain, psychosocial rehabilitation, lower limb amputation, bone tumors, diabetes, atherosclerosis, functional outcome