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Breast cancer patients' risk perceptions and treatment values following surgical consult. J Clin Oncol 2013 Sep 10;31(26_suppl):36

Date

09/10/2013

Pubmed ID

28136620

Abstract

: 36 Background: Contralateral breast cancer (CBC) is the most common second primary cancer in breast cancer patients. The 10-year risk of CBC for patients with locally invasive or intraductal disease is approximately 6%. However, a recent study reported that prior to surgical consult newly diagnosed breast cancer patients without a BRCA mutation estimated their 10-year CBC risk to be 31.4%. We sought to evaluate breast cancer patients' perceived risk of future cancer and their treatment values following surgical consult.

METHODS: Women diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in-situ or stage I-III invasive breast cancer were interviewed in the period between surgical consult and surgical treatment. Participants completed the Perceived Risk Questionnaire (PRQ) and the Values Scale. The PRQ contains 5 questions to assess perceived likelihood of future cancer on a 5-point scale (1 = not at all likely, 5 = very likely). For each question, women also estimate the likelihood of cancer in the next 10 years as a percentage from 0 to 100. The Values Scale measures the importance of 11 treatment-related values (e.g., How important is it to you to keep your breast?) on a 10-point scale (1 = not at all important, 10 = very important).

RESULTS: Interviews were completed with 20 patients (mean age 54.7 years) without a known BRCA mutation. On the Values Scale, women identified minimizing the chance of cancer elsewhere in the body (mean=9.2), in the other breast (mean = 9.1), and in the same breast (mean = 8.8) as most important. Patients estimated their 10-year risk to be 13.6% for CBC, 14.2% for breast cancer appearing in the same breast, and 19.6% for cancer appearing elsewhere in the body. One-fourth of participants believed they faced at least a 50% chance of encountering breast cancer again in the next 10 years.

CONCLUSIONS: Women in this study reported lower perceived risk of CBC than in a prior study of perceived risk prior to surgical consult, thus suggesting that the surgical consult may lead to a reduction in perceived risk. Nonetheless, participants' estimated their 10-year risk of CBC to be twice the actual estimated risk. Our findings indicate a need for additional patient education about CBC risk.

Author List

Cameron KA, Stolley M, Bethke KP, Hansen NM, Jeruss JS, Clayman ML, Khan SA

Author

Melinda Stolley PhD Center Associate Director, Professor in the Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin