Oppong Emphasizes How Patient Education Can Lower Breast Cancer Surgery Refusal Rates

Welcome to OncLive On Air^®! I’m your host today, Jason Harris.

OncLive On Air^® is a podcast from OncLive, which provides oncology professionals with the resources and information they need to provide the best patient care. In both digital and print formats, OncLive covers every angle of oncology practice, from new technology to treatment advances to important regulatory decisions.

In today’s episode, we spoke with Bridget Oppong, MD, an associate professor in the Division of Surgical Oncology and a breast surgical oncologist at The Ohio State University Medical School in Columbus.

Dr Oppong and her colleagues recently published results showing that Black and Hispanic women are more likely than their White counterparts to refuse surgery for nonmetastatic breast cancer. Moreover, the rate of surgery rose from 2005 to 2015 in these populations.

Predictably, surgery refusal has a significant negative effect on survival. Data from a 2017 study show that the risk for mortality is nearly 2.5 times greater in women who refuse surgery.

Dr Oppong joined us to discuss the findings, the reasons some patients refuse to undergo surgery, and potential strategies to overcome those objections.

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That’s all we have for today! Thanks again to my guest, Dr Bridget Oppong, and thank you for listening to this episode of OncLive On Air^®. Check back on Mondays and Thursdays for exclusive interviews with leading experts in the oncology field.

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