A group of oncologists, patients and advocates is meeting in Kingston, Ont., this week to discuss a revolutionary idea in cancer treatment: maybe oncologists should encourage less treatment for patients in order to focus on quality of life and care.
Dr. Christopher Booth, a medical oncologist and health services researcher at Queen鈥檚 University and the co-leader of the very first Common Sense Oncology Symposium, believes cancer patients are often given treatments that, in the long run, only offer very small benefits.
鈥淢ost of the treatments that we strongly support are the standard treatments: surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and new cancer medicines,鈥� Booth told CTV鈥檚 Your Morning on Tuesday. 鈥淏ut increasingly, some of our new treatments might not even help people live any longer or improve their quality of life. They might shrink tumours on a CAT scan for a couple of months, but that's a very different outcome than what many patients and their families would want.鈥�
Booth said many patients want to have honest conversations and make informed decisions about how they spend their time, especially patients with terminal diagnoses, but often those conversations aren鈥檛 happening in oncology medicine.
鈥淲e're not proposing we have the answers for what a patient would want,鈥� Booth said. 鈥淲e just think we need to have a better conversation so that patients have the information they need to make the decision that's best for them.鈥�
Booth described three major problems with how the oncology field currently treats cancer patients in a Queen鈥檚 University鈥檚 presentation called Research Talks, where researchers at the university give 鈥淭ED-style talks鈥� using 鈥渋nnovative research鈥� to students, faculty and community members.
The first problem Booth outlined is that people from worse socio-economic groups or poorer countries and regions are more likely to develop 鈥渨orse cancers with worse outcomes.鈥�
The second is that many cancer treatments do not provide a sufficient 鈥渢ime trade off鈥� for patients, as patients often spend their remaining time undergoing treatments instead of 鈥渂eing with their loved ones or having experiences.鈥�
Lastly, Booth described the astronomical cost some of these cancer treatments can tally up, which affects 鈥渂oth patients and the overall medical system.鈥� For example, he said one drug costs over $100,000 and causes 鈥渢errible鈥� side effects and 鈥渙nly improves survival by 10 days.鈥�
The symposium will feature talks with 30 oncologists and patient advocates from 15 different countries.
鈥淲e thought it was time to have an open conversation about these things and work with patients to understand how we can best give them the information they need to make the best decisions possible.鈥�
The Canadian Cancer Society says 1.5 million people in Canada 鈥渓ive with or beyond鈥� cancer today.
