Patients who have received pelvic radiation for prostate cancer may later develop bowel problems. Franklin et al developed a patient questionnaire to determine how severely these affect the patient. This was developed in Queensland, Australia.
The instrument consists of 7 questions,
Each has 4 or 5 choices which are scored from 0 (normal) to 3 or 4 (severe).
The patient is also asked about any history of:
(1) hemorrhoids
(2) diverticulitis
(3) anal fissure
(4) other bowel problem
bowel symptom score =
= SUM(points for the first 7 questions)
Interpretation:
• minimum score: 0
• maximum score: 27
• The higher the score, the greater the bowel morbidity.
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