Elsevier

The Lancet

Volume 334, Issue 8668, 14 October 1989, Pages 888-891
The Lancet

EFFECT OF PSYCHOSOCIAL TREATMENT ON SURVIVAL OF PATIENTS WITH METASTATIC BREAST CANCER

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(89)91551-1Get rights and content

Abstract

The effect of psychosocial intervention on time of survival of 86 patients with metastatic breast cancer was studied prospectively. The 1 year intervention consisted of weekly supportive group therapy with self-hypnosis for pain. Both the treatment (n = 50) and control groups (n = 36) had routine oncological care. At 10 year follow-up, only 3 of the patients were alive, and death records were obtained for the other 83. Survival from time of randomisation and onset of intervention was a mean 36·6 (SD 37·6) months in the intervention group compared with 18·9 (10·8) months in the control group, a significant difference. Survival plots indicated that divergence in survival began at 20 months after entry, or 8 months after intervention ended.

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