Doctors look for ways to boost quality of cancer patients' lives

Conference brings experts together to talk about nausea, depression, insomnia and anxiety related to the disease and its treatment.

By Victoria Stagg Elliott , AMNews staff. Oct. 16, 2006.

As cancer treatments improve, physicians are increasingly discussing not just how to save lives but also how to ensure that the life is of highest quality possible both during the treatment and after.

"People want the best care possible," said Michael J. Fisch, MD, MPH, medical director of the community clinical oncology program at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. "But they also want quality of life and to maintain their roles as parents, friends and neighbors."

He was speaking at last month's second annual Chicago Supportive Oncology Conference organized by the Journal of Supportive Oncology. This meeting brings together oncologists, palliative care physicians and other health professionals who work with cancer patients around the country to discuss strategies for dealing with the challenges associated with patients being treated for this disease.

"This is really groundbreaking to have a whole conference dedicated to quality of life, because it's something that patients are very concerned about," said Tony L. Back, MD, associate professor in the division of oncology at the University of Washington, Seattle.

The issues are numerous. Fatigue is by far the most common complaint. Others, including anxiety, depression, appetite problems, nausea, vomiting, sexual dysfunction and memory loss also can surface because of treatment or the cancer itself.

But although the list of complaints is long, experts suggest attacking the one or two that are most bothersome to the patient, because other problems might resolve themselves as these are addressed.