A study on the side effects experienced by women receiving pelvic radiation, led by Anamaria Yeung, M.D., UF Radiation Oncology Clinical Associate Professor and Residency Program Director (shown right), is now receiving national attention.
In the study, published February 19 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, women who received radiation to the pelvic region reported side effects much more often using an online version of the PRO-CTCAE™, than they did during conversations with their providers, who recorded patients’ side effects in the clinician version of the system.
PRO-CTCAE™ is a patient reporting system developed by the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
“There are some symptoms that patients are just not going to bring up easily in discussions with their doctors,” said Dr. Yeung. “And in that case, the clinician is going to assume that they don’t have those symptoms.”
After surgery for cervical or uterine cancer, some women at high risk of their cancer returning may also have radiation therapy to the pelvic region. The decision to have radiation therapy is often very personal, explained Dr. Yeung, and requires a woman to balance concerns about potential harms of treatment with the risk of cancer recurrence.
Learn more online with the National Cancer Institute.