Study: Breast Cancer Treatment Recommendations Reflect Patient Concerns

Surgeons may be incorporating their patients' attitudes and concerns regarding breast cancer into their treatment recommendations for older patients, according to researchers at the University of Texas, Galveston.

Researchers studied whether the recommendations that surgeons made reflected the concerns of older patients about the surgical treatment of their breast cancer, such as fear of dying or fear of losing a breast.

Interviews were gathered of 137 older patients diagnosed with early stage breast cancer between 1994 and 1996.

Patients who ranked their feelings about losing a breast as "very important" were found to be less likely to be advised to have a mastectomy, but those who rated their fear of dying from the disease as "very important" were more likely to have mastectomy recommended to them.

The researchers concluded that surgeons do integrate their patients' attitudes and concerns into their treatment recommendations.

Other Sources: European Journal of Cancer Care