Development of a patient-reported outcome tool for assessing symptom burden during perioperative care in liver surgery: The MDASI-PeriOp-Hep.

PURPOSE

Based on the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory (MDASI), we developed a Patient-reported outcomes tool for hepatectomy perioperative care (MDASI-PeriOp-Hep).

METHODS

To establish the content validity, we generated PeriOp-Hep-specific candidate items from qualitative interviews of patients (n = 30), and removed items that lacked clinical relevance on the basis of input from panels of patients, caregivers, and clinicians. The psychometric properties of the MDASI-PeriOp-Hep were validated (n = 150). The cognitive debriefing and clinical interpretability were assessed to confirm the ease of comprehension, relevance, and acceptability of the tool.

RESULTS

Five symptoms specific to hepatectomy (abdominal bloating, tightness, or fullness; abdominal cramping; muscle weakness, instability, or vertigo; constipation; and incisional tightness) were identified as module items to form the MDASI-PeriOp-Hep. The Cronbach αs for symptoms and for interference were 0.898 and 0.861, respectively. The test-retest reliability was 0.887 for all 18 symptom severity items. Compared to other commonly used tools, correlation of MDASI-PeriOp-Hep scores to performance status (all, P < 0.001) and to the phase of perioperative care confirmed known-group validity. Convergent validity was excellent against other standard Patient-reported outcomes tools. Cognitive debriefing demonstrated that the MDASI-PeriOp-Hep was an easy to use and understandable tool.

CONCLUSIONS

For integrating patient-reported outcomes in perioperative patient care, a procedure-specific tool is desirable. The MDASI-PeriOp-Hep is a valid, reliable, concise tool for measuring symptom severity and functional interference in patients undergoing liver surgery.