Majority of Patients with Colorectal, Lung Cancer Believe Surgery Is Cure

the Cancer Therapy Advisor take:

A majority of patients with lung and colorectal cancer reported perceptions that surgery would cure their cancer, according to an article published online in Cancer.

Participants in this study included 3,954 patients who underwent surgery for lung (30.3%) or colorectal (69.7%) cancer between 2003 and 2005.  These patients were identified from a population- and health system-based survey from across the United States.

Approximately 80.0% of patients with lung cancer and 89.7% with colorectal cancer reported that they believed surgical resection would cure their cancer.

Of patients with stage IV lung cancer, 57.4% also believed surgery would cure their disease, along with 79.8% of patients with stage IV colorectal cancer.

The belief of curative surgery was found to be higher among patients with colorectal cancer versus those with lung cancer (OR = 2.27).

Results showed that single, female patients with an advanced tumor stage and having a high number of comorbidities were less likely to have the belief that surgery would cure their cancer. Patients who communicated effectively with their physician and shared a role in decision-making with their physician (OR = 1.16) or family (OR = 1.17) had a higher perception that surgery would be a cure.

However, patients who did not have hands-on participation in decision-making and reported a physician-controlled (OR = 0.56) or family-controlled (OR = 0.72) approach were less likely to believe surgery would be curative.

The study suggests improvement be made in the patient-physician engagement and communication mechanism. Additionally, the authors recommend that barriers regarding the discussion of goals of care with patients diagnosed with cancer be addressed.