Lebensqualität nach Operationen und Intensivtherapie

'Quality-of-life' (QL) is of increasing interest in clinical research because it has become a useful mean of assessing results of surgical therapy and intensive care medicine. The construct is defined and critical considerations of the methodology in clinical studies including QL are given. As an example a study is described from heart surgery. Patients who received aortic valve replacement with a pulmonary autograft (Ross-operation) were compared with patients who were supplied with mechanical valves. QL was assessed by using the Short Form (SF)-36 Health Survey. Results show a better QL after Ross-operation than after mechanical valve prosthesis. They also demonstrate that QL after surgery is a process that starts after a medical intervention and that is influenced by demographic, social and psychological factors.