Abstract
Psychosocial controversies in breast cancer
Highlights
Breast cancer advocacy groups worldwide have put breast cancer very firmly on the political agenda
The many exciting advances in breast cancer treatment made over the past decade mean that more women are cured of their disease or are living longer with a better quality of life (QoL)
To be able to deliver on these expectations, many health care professionals need better communication skills training
Summary
CRUK Sussex Psychosocial Oncology Group, Brighton & Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9QG, UK. In adjuvant treatment for early breast cancer, many women who have already successfully been treated with surgery and radiotherapy have chemotherapy or hormone therapy, from which they will derive no further benefit and merely iatrogenic harms This can affect adherence and, if side effects are not dealt with adequately, push patients into the arms of alternative and complementary therapists. Unless side effects are measured and monitored adequately within clinics, it will not be possible to collect data demonstrating the non-lifethreatening but QoL-threatening side effects that compromise adherence or that send women running to complementary therapists This is bad enough in an adjuvant setting, but it is not acceptable in advanced metastatic disease, where preserving QoL may be the only criterion of benefit. Audience responses to questions before the talks and after the discussion period
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