Quality of life in breast cancer patients - Not enough attention for long-term survivors?

In a study of breast cancer survivors, the authors used the European Organi zation for Research and Treatment of Cancer core questionnaire + breast mod ule (EORTC QLQ-C30/+BR23) and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-B reast (FACT-B)for the assessment of quality of life (QoL). The main focus o f this study was to look at the effect of time elapsed since initial treatm ent on the patients' QoL. Eighty-seven female patients (average age of 53.9 +/- 8.7 years) were included in the study. All women had received curative cancer therapy. The average time elapsed since start of initial treatment was 4.7 +/- 4.3 years. Reduced QoL, especially in the areas of emotional, s ocial, and sexual functioning, was found not only after initial treatment ( 1-2 years) but also after long posttreatment survival (>5 years). From thes e findings, needs for specific psyche-oncological interventions are derived The findings imply that besides recovering from the acute consequences of cancer therapy, long-term survivors of breast cancer (>5 years after initia l treatment) still may have a special need for psyche-oncological support.