Breast cancer is the leading cancer diagnosis in the world. Advancements in cancer diagnoses, treatments and models of care have significantly improved the survival rate in breast cancer survivors. However, the long-term survival has highlighted a challenge in the ongoing management of cancer symptoms as survivors can experience various unpleasant symptoms throughout their illness trajectory, such as fatigue, pain, sleep disturbance, depression, lymphedema, menopausal symptoms, and peripheral neuropathy, with more than half reporting one or more symptoms two to six years post-treatment. Many symptoms persist for years and often co-occur with each other, significantly worsening survivors’ quality of life, along with deteriorating their physical and psychosocial well-being, altering their social functions, and contributing to increased symptom burden. These factors can further impede survivors’ compliance with routine treatments, which can potentially shorten their overall survival.
The goal of this Research Topic is to highlight the knowledge and research gaps in quality of life and symptom management in breast cancer survivors, and provide latest research evidence on innovative supportive care approaches that can be utilized to improve symptom outcomes and quality of life in breast cancer survivors.
This Research Topic covers the following themes:
• Physical and psychological symptoms associated with breast cancer and its related treatments
• Quality of life and social functions of breast cancer survivors and/or their carers
• Patient-reported instruments for assessing unmet needs, symptoms, and quality of life in breast cancer survivors and/or their carers
• Development, evaluation, and implementation of innovative interventions for improving symptom outcomes and quality of life in breast cancer survivors
• Symptom clusters in breast cancer survivors across their illness trajectory
• Experiences of breast cancer survivors, carers, and health professionals with symptom management and/or survivorship care
• Financial toxicity in relation to cancer treatment and survivorship care in breast cancer survivors
• Evidence-based Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) on breast cancer symptom management
• Models of care and multidisciplinary team for symptom management in breast cancer survivors
This Research Topic welcomes a wide range of original and review articles, including but not limited to clinical trials, observational studies, qualitative studies, mix-methods studies, systematic reviews, scoping reviews, meta-analyses, and clinical case series, addressing any of the above themes.
Please note: manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by validation (clinical cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) are out of scope for this section and will not be accepted as part of this Research Topic.
Breast cancer is the leading cancer diagnosis in the world. Advancements in cancer diagnoses, treatments and models of care have significantly improved the survival rate in breast cancer survivors. However, the long-term survival has highlighted a challenge in the ongoing management of cancer symptoms as survivors can experience various unpleasant symptoms throughout their illness trajectory, such as fatigue, pain, sleep disturbance, depression, lymphedema, menopausal symptoms, and peripheral neuropathy, with more than half reporting one or more symptoms two to six years post-treatment. Many symptoms persist for years and often co-occur with each other, significantly worsening survivors’ quality of life, along with deteriorating their physical and psychosocial well-being, altering their social functions, and contributing to increased symptom burden. These factors can further impede survivors’ compliance with routine treatments, which can potentially shorten their overall survival.
The goal of this Research Topic is to highlight the knowledge and research gaps in quality of life and symptom management in breast cancer survivors, and provide latest research evidence on innovative supportive care approaches that can be utilized to improve symptom outcomes and quality of life in breast cancer survivors.
This Research Topic covers the following themes:
• Physical and psychological symptoms associated with breast cancer and its related treatments
• Quality of life and social functions of breast cancer survivors and/or their carers
• Patient-reported instruments for assessing unmet needs, symptoms, and quality of life in breast cancer survivors and/or their carers
• Development, evaluation, and implementation of innovative interventions for improving symptom outcomes and quality of life in breast cancer survivors
• Symptom clusters in breast cancer survivors across their illness trajectory
• Experiences of breast cancer survivors, carers, and health professionals with symptom management and/or survivorship care
• Financial toxicity in relation to cancer treatment and survivorship care in breast cancer survivors
• Evidence-based Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) on breast cancer symptom management
• Models of care and multidisciplinary team for symptom management in breast cancer survivors
This Research Topic welcomes a wide range of original and review articles, including but not limited to clinical trials, observational studies, qualitative studies, mix-methods studies, systematic reviews, scoping reviews, meta-analyses, and clinical case series, addressing any of the above themes.
Please note: manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by validation (clinical cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) are out of scope for this section and will not be accepted as part of this Research Topic.
