Emphasis On Making Psychosocial Care Part Of Routine Cancer Care Pays Off For Patients
Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center have placed new emphasis on gathering data on cancer patient quality of life during both treatment and survivorship. Their focus is on gathering and using that data to develop interventions to improve the quality of life for patients in treatment and for cancer survivors. Much of the quality of life and survivorship research is carried out by researchers in Moffitt's Department of Health Outcomes & Behavior. "Among the several research goals of the Department of Health Outcomes & Behaviors is the evaluation and improvement of quality of life and quality of care, " said department chair Thomas H.
Younger Women Benefit From Mammography
Researchers from University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have published new findings that mammography remains beneficial for women in their 40s. According to a study published in the May issue of American Journal of Roentgenology, women between ages 40 and 49 who underwent routine screening mammography were diagnosed at earlier stages with smaller tumors than symptomatic women needing diagnostic workup. The paper comes on the heels of the United States Preventive Services Task Force's guidelines from November 2009 recommending against annual screening mammography for women between the ages of 40 and 49.
Adolescents With Cancer Concerned About Their Future Reproductive Health
Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues have found that adolescents newly diagnosed with cancer have strong concerns about their ability to have children as cancer survivors. They also found that standard health-related quality-of-life survey tools used to elicit answers from teens with cancer did not accurately reflect these concerns. Parents, who often answer survey questions as proxies, often inaccurately relayed their child's reproductive concerns. The study, carried out by Moffitt researchers and colleagues from the University of South Florida, the University of Florida, All Children's Hospital and Children's Hospital of Orange County Children's Cancer Institute (Orange, Calif.