Surveillance CT scans are a source of anxiety and fear of recurrence in long-term lymphoma survivors
Surveillance CT scans are a source of anxiety and fear of recurrence in long-term lymphoma survivors
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DOI：
10.1093/annonc/mdq215
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发表时间：
2010-11-01
影响因子：
50.5
通讯作者：
Leonard, J. P.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Thompson, C. A.;Charlson, M. E.;Leonard, J. P.
Background: We aimed to assess anxiety and the psychological impact of routine surveillance scans in long-term survivors of adult aggressive lymphoma.Patients and methods: In this cross-sectional observational study of 70 survivors of curable adult aggressive lymphoma, we measured anxiety and the doctor-patient relationship and performed a qualitative interview (n = 30) focused on patient perception of routine follow-up imaging studies.Results: Participants were diagnosed with aggressive lymphoma a median of 4.9 years (2.4-38.0 years) before enrollment. Thirty-seven percent of patients were found to meet criteria for clinically significant anxiety, which was not associated with years since diagnosis. In multivariate analysis, history of relapse and a worse doctor-patient relationship were independently associated with higher anxiety levels. Despite representing a largely cured population, in qualitative interviews patients reported fear of recurrence as a major concern and considerable anxiety around the time of a follow-up imaging scan.Conclusions: Routine surveillance scans exacerbate underlying anxiety symptoms and fear of recurrence in survivors of aggressive lymphoma. Strategies to minimize follow-up imaging and to improve doctor-patient communication should be prospectively evaluated to address these clinically significant issues.
