What is important that you know when considering your options for anticancer treatments?
When it comes to cancer treatments, there is no single best way that is appropriate for all patients. Making the right decision about treatments such as chemotherapy, biological treatments, and radiation therapy requires having enough information to weigh up your options. For most people, this is a new situation and they and their family members often don’t know what information is needed to make an informed decision or how to give informed consent to proceed with a treatment plan.
To ensure that you have the information that you need, these are some of the important questions to ask your oncologist about any proposed treatment:
General
• What type of therapy is this and what demands is it going to make on me and my family?
• Is this a widely used treatment that is recommended by international authorities or professional guidelines?
• What is the likelihood that this treatment will make me feel better or help me to live longer?
• If the treatment helps, when should I start to feel better?
Advantages:
• What is the best that I can expect if this treatment works well?
• On average, how much does this treatment help patients to live longer?
• If the treatment does not help me to live longer, can it make me feel better and improve
my quality of life?
• How often does this treatment help patients?
• If it does help, for how long is it likely to help?
Potential risks:
• What side effects am I likely to suffer if I take this treatment? How severe are they likely
to be and how long will they last?
• Can the side effects be prevented?
• Are any side effects potentially dangerous? If so, how often do they happen? What can
be done to minimize my risk from them? Are they reversible?
Are there other options that I could reasonably consider?
- More aggressive therapies?
- Less aggressive therapies?
- Experimental therapies?
- Complementary or alternative therapies?
- Symptom control without anticancer therapies?
It is important to participate in the decision-making process and always have all the information related to the treatment that you’re undergoing.
Getting a second opinion from a second specialist is a good option to gather more information about the treatment options and for your peace of mind.