Many breast cancer patients do not feel fully informed about their treatment options, say researchers

A research team in the United States has found that most women who undergo breast cancer operations do not feel fully informed about their treatment options when they decide on the procedure to follow.

Many breast cancer patients do not feel fully informed about their treatment options, say researchers

However, another research team found that the problem could be solved by the use of a web-based decision support, which has been shown to make it even more effective. patient knowledge that the use of standard websites on cancer. Patients who used the tool were more likely to understand that waiting a few weeks before deciding on their operation would not have a negative impact on their chances of survival.
As reported in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons breast cancer surgeon Sunny Mitchell and her team conducted a post-treatment survey in June 2016 with elderly patients 18 to 99 years old. a lumpectomy and / or mastectomy after being diagnosed with breast cancer. The number of respondents to the survey was 487.
When asked if finding all of their treatment options or quick decision is a priority, 35% of patients only for lumpectomy, 31% of patients only for mastectomy and 22% of those who both procedures favor a quick decision.
When asked if they would have liked to have more time to study their options before making a decision, the majority of the three groups said that they would have done so . The survey also showed that only 47% of patients only for lumpectomy, 67% of patients only for mastectomy and 28% of patients who had both operations felt fully informed about their treatment options.
Mitchell is "definitely surprised by the large percentage of women who say they do not feel fully informed" and suggests that future studies focus on providing consistent and reliable information in a variety of formats.

It is unrealistic to expect that the majority of patients will have health literacy, research skills, access to information and sufficient clarity of mind for their health and safety. 39; inform. "

Sunny Mitchell, MD, Stratford, CT

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Researchers Heather Neuman (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and his colleagues suggested that the use of decision aids could be a solution to the problem. They conducted a study between April 2014 and June 2016, during which women newly diagnosed with breast cancer (stage 0 to III) were randomized to receive a link to a decision aid on the Web or on the Internet. Standard care websites such as breastcancer.org, the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute. Decision support provided static and didactic information that people with grade eight reading could understand.
Once they reviewed all the information, the patients completed a questionnaire before attending their first surgical consultation. Using a breast cancer quality measuring instrument, the team showed that patients who received decision support scored a median of 80% on the questionnaire, compared with 66% of those who consulted. standard websites.
In addition, 72% of the decision-support group understood that waiting a few weeks before deciding on their operation would not have a negative impact on their survival, compared at 54% of those in the standard website group.
"Patients arrive with this urgency, and this discovery tells them that they can slow down, they do not need to have this anxiety," Neuman says. Decreasing this sense of urgency around decision-making could, in turn, improve the quality of consultation between the surgeon and the patient, since patients may be more open to hearing their options and better equipped to take them into consideration.
"This process of sending e-mails works, and for a general surgeon in a more rural area, it's something they could do to improve care," Neuman concludes.

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