Patients Often Think Chemotherapy Can Cure Advanced Cancer
Up to four out of five patients with metastatic cancer erroneously believe that chemotherapy might cure them, according to a New England Journal of Medicine study.
Nearly 1200 patients diagnosed with stage IV lung or colorectal cancer who chose to undergo chemotherapy were asked the following: "After talking with your doctors about chemotherapy, how likely did you think it was that chemotherapy would ... help you live longer, cure your cancer, or help you with problems you were having because of your cancer?"
Some 69% of lung cancer patients and 81% of colorectal cancer patients indicated that they thought chemotherapy might be curative. Nonwhite patients were particularly likely to misunderstand its effectiveness.
Editorialists advise "stating the prognosis at the first visit, appointing someone in the office to ensure there is a discussion of advance directives, helping to schedule a hospice information visit within the first three visits, and offering to discuss prognosis and coping ... at each transition."
NEJM article (Free abstract)
ขอบคุณ อ.ลัญฉน์ศักดิ์ที่สรุปบทความดีๆ เป็นบทเรียนทีชาวตะวันตกยังมีความเข้าใจอย่างนั้น และแสดงให้เห็นว่า ยังมีโอกาสพัฒนาที่ทีมบริบาลสุขภาพควรมีการเตรียมผู้ป่วยและครอบครัวให้พร้อมและดียิ่งขึ้นต่อโรคที่คุกคามต่อชีวิต