Researchers from the University of Sydney suggest that doctors who use the word 鈥渃ancer鈥� when diagnosing low-risk forms of the disease can inadvertently cause patient stress and anxiety, thus leading to unnecessary treatments.
鈥淓vidence is mounting that disease labels affect people鈥檚 psychological responses and their decisions about management options,鈥� says the analysis, which was recently published in . 鈥淭he use of more medicalised labels can increase both concern about illness and desire for more invasive treatment.鈥�
Dropping the word 鈥渃ancer,鈥� the researchers suggest, could thus make patients more willing to agree to 鈥渁ctive surveillance鈥� in cases where 鈥渃ancers are non-growing or so slow growing that they will never cause harm if left undetected.鈥�
Doctors, however, appear loathe to stop using the word.
Speaking to CTV鈥檚 Your Morning, Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an internal medicine physician at Toronto General Hospital, said it鈥檚 important that doctors 鈥渉ave the utmost transparency with patients.鈥�
鈥淚 use the word cancer if there is a diagnosis of cancer,鈥� he stated. 鈥淏ut it really has to be communicated in the appropriate manner.鈥�
Some low-risk forms of the disease -- such as papillary thyroid cancer, chronic lymphocytic leukemia and ductal carcinoma in situ breast cancer -- Bogoch notes, 鈥渕ay cause no problems for the duration of an individual鈥檚 life.鈥�
In such cases, Bogoch says, doctors simply need to monitor the cancers to ensure they鈥檙e not growing or spreading.
鈥淐ertainly, we don鈥檛 typically refrain from using the word cancer鈥� but we also have to frame the message and especially when we鈥檙e seeing cases of rather benign cancers or cancers that might not need any treatment at all,鈥� he explained. 鈥淲e have to communicate that very clearly with patients so that they鈥檙e not nervous and so that they might not seek out other treatments or take actions that might be more harmful.鈥�
