Women are able to adapt during metastatic breast cancer, according to a survey involving patients and medical oncologists.

Investigators administered the Make Your Dialogue Count survey to explore patient emotional needs when first diagnosed and when treatment changed.

As patients progressed from diagnosis to treatment change:

• Fewer expressed fear of the unknown (58% vs 44%) and distress over believing something could have been done to prevent disease progression (26% vs 12%).

• More said they had hope of keeping the disease stable (46% vs 59%) and expressed confidence in treatment options (29% vs 37%).

More women with children ≤17 years old were distressed regarding disease progression, vs those with children who were older or who had no children.

The survey also revealed that patient expectations and what oncologists actually discussed with them were often not in agreement.

Citation: Brufsky A, Ormerod C, Bell Dickson R, Citron M. Understanding the needs of patients with metastatic breast cancer: Results of the Make Your Dialogue Count survey. [Published online ahead of print September 13, 2016]. Breast J. doi:10.1111/tbj.12675.