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The Patient’s Perspective

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Multidisciplinary Management of Rectal Cancer

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Abstract

Traditional endpoints such as local recurrence, distant recurrence and survival are indisputably valuable endpoints steering to improve care for patients with rectal cancer. Multimodal treatment and auditing has improved rectal cancer care enormously in the past decades. Local recurrence rates are very low and survival is increasing in time.

Thus, it is time to prioritize the quality of survivorship after rectal cancer. It is of utmost importance that clinicians not only address traditional endpoints but also focus on adverse effects of treatment and patient-reported outcome measures. Accordingly, in this chapter, qualitative studies eliciting patient preferences and expectations in medical decision making are described. There are many merits in information provision about rectal cancer treatments. Implications of long-lasting consequences of rectal cancer treatment are described from a patient’s perspective. ‘What are relevant endpoints for patients?’ is written as an eye-opener to improve patient education and counselling when facing life-changing treatment decisions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

    P. G. Boelens, G. Henning & Claire Taylor

  2. EUROPAColon, Unit 5, Deans Farm, Stratford sub Castle, Salisbury, SP1 3YP, UK

    P. G. Boelens, G. Henning & Claire Taylor

  3. Colorectal care, St Mark’s Hospital, Harrow, Middlesex, UK

    P. G. Boelens, G. Henning & Claire Taylor

Authors
  1. P. G. Boelens
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  2. G. Henning
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  3. Claire Taylor
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Correspondence to P. G. Boelens .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Radiation Oncology, Università Cattolica S Cuore, Rome, Italy

    Vincenzo Valentini

  2. Head, Div. Clinical Oncology Research, University Clinic Halle (Saale), Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany

    Hans-Joachim Schmoll

  3. Department of Surgery, Leiden Univ Med Ctr, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Cornelis J. H. van de Velde

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Boelens, P.G., Henning, G., Taylor, C. (2018). The Patient’s Perspective. In: Valentini, V., Schmoll, HJ., van de Velde, C. (eds) Multidisciplinary Management of Rectal Cancer. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43217-5_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43217-5_2

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