June 11, 2011

A recent study at Northwestern Medicine showed that even three to five years after treatment, cancer survivors still experience moderate to severe problems with pain, fatigue, sleep, memory and concentration. The study’s findings were presented on June 4 at the 2011 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in Chicago.

The 248 cancer survivors sampled had a median age of 64 years and included those with breast (63%), colorectal (19%), prostate (9%) and lung (8%) cancer. Survivors were primarily white (76%) and female (75%), and 63% were greater than five years from diagnosis. The most common symptoms included fatigue (16%), disturbed sleep (15%), cognitive difficulties (13%), and pain (13%).

“We were surprised to see how prevalent these symptoms still are,” said study co-investigator Lynne Wagner, an associate professor of medical social sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a clinical health psychologist at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, in a press release from Northwestern. “This is one of the first looks at what’s really happening for survivors in terms of symptoms and treatment among community-based treatment settings across the U.S.”

"It seems we haven't come a long way in managing pain despite a lot of medical advances," she said in the release. "This is eye opening. It tells us we need to be better in clinical practice about managing our survivors' pain."

The survivors also had been treated in community settings, where according to the researchers, 80 percent of people with cancer are treated in the United States, as opposed to academic medical centers.

“This group best represents the typical experience of cancer survivors around the country”, Wagner stated in the release.

Source: Northwestern University

Study: Wagner L.I., et al. “Prospective assessment of symptom burden among cancer survivors with common solid tumors: Results from ECOG trial E2Z02.” Journal of Clinical Oncology 29: 2011 (suppl; abstr 9137)

Reiki is a form of energy work that promotes balance of body, mind and spirit and has found success in helping cancer patients manage the side effects of treatment. Reiki has also been shown to relieve stress and pain, and increase overall feelings of well-being.

Dave Gorczynski is president of SPARK, a non-profit organization that has provided free energy work sessions and workshops across New York City since 2002. He writes a regular column about energy work and meditation for the Compact News in New York City's Chinatown. E-mail him at dave@sparkenergy.org.