“Advanced Patients Mistakenly Believe Chemo is Curative.” By Lindsey Heather, Oncology Times

The majority of patients with advanced lung or advanced colorectal cancer—69 and 81 percent, respectively—mistakenly believe that chemotherapy can cure their disease, according to a new study by the Cancer Care Outcomes Research and Surveillance Consortium (CanCORS), published in the New England Journal of Medicine (2012;367:1616–1625). Investigators evaluated the medical records of 1,193 patients who had been diagnosed with Stage IV lung or colorectal cancer four months earlier and had received chemotherapy. The study highlights the importance of communication, asking difficult questions, understanding end-of-life-care, and paying close attention to transition points in a patient’s care (i.e., during a change in treatment or when the prognosis changes.)

Read more »

Be Sociable, Share!

Articles & Posts