More women are surviving breast cancer. Medical advances in treatment, earlier detection, better supportive care and ongoing rehabilitation and surveillance have all made a difference - and current Canadian statistics show that 87 per cent of women will be alive five years after a breast cancer diagnosis.

However, a recent report released by the Institute of Medicine in the United States indicated that coordinated, long-term care of cancer survivors to address the late and long-term effects of a cancer diagnosis and treatment is currently the exception rather than the norm. What do we know about the services cancer survivors need?

Over the last two years, former WCRI research scientist, Dr. Judy Gould and her colleague Dr. Pam Catton, of Princess Margaret Hospital explored this question. The project took part in two phases:

• A review of the post-treatment breast cancer survivorship literature to identify key health care issues experienced by breast cancer survivors during post-active treatment and existing interventions and models of care.
• An environmental scan and key informant interviews to explore existing post-treatment resources and to identify gaps in service and programming for breast cancer survivors in the Toronto Central Local Health Integration Network (LHIN).

Reports from this initiative are now available in PDF format including:

Post-Treatment Physical and Psychosocial Side/Late Effects and Program and Service Needs of Breast Cancer Survivors - Executive Summary

As well as complete reports of activitites in each phase:

Survivors of Breast Cancer: Exploring Post-Treatment Physical and Psychosocial Side/Late Effects and their Interventions Phase 1 - Surveying the Literature

Ascertaining the Post-Treatment Program, Service and Network Formulation Needs of Breast Cancer Survivorship Providers in the Toronto Central LHIN Phase 2 - Environmental Scan and Key Informant Interviews

Cancer Survivorship Links

• Women's Cancer Survivorship Team
• « back to Cancers Common in Women