Study: Attitudes of Patients Influence Decision on Chemotherapy

Breast cancer patients' attitudes towards chemotherapy are key to their post-surgical decisions as to whether to proceed with that treatment, according to researchers from the United Kingdom's Cancer Research Campaign.

Researchers reported in the British Journal of Cancer on their effort to determine the minimum benefit (in terms of improved 5-year disease-free survival) that would lead patients to conclude that post-surgical chemotherapy was acceptable.

Patients with early-stage breast cancer who had completed surgery were surveyed before, during and one month after chemotherapy was completed, and results were compared with patients who elected not to have chemotherapy treatments after their surgery.

At all measurement points, the patients who had chosen to undergo chemotheraphy indicated that they would make the decision to have chemotherapy on the basis of significantly less benefit than patients in the no-chemotherapy group.

In the group that had decided against chemotherapy, the attitude towards chemotherapy became more negative over time.

The more positive attitude towards chemotherapy of patients in the chemotherapy group showed that reconciliation with the treatment decision was a more important determinant of patients' preferences than a positive experience with the treatment, the researchers said.

Other sources: British Journal of Cancer