VIDEO: Better survivorship support, clinics needed in breast cancer

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So there's a lot of research being done to improve treatment options for patients that are diagnosed with breast cancer. But as we are improving our treatments for our patients, we are not realizing that the number of breast cancer survivors or cancer survivors are continuing to rise in the US. As of 2022, there's an estimated 18.1 million cancer survivors in the US, and by 2030 the number is supposed to go up to 21.6, and then by 2040, 26 million. So as a population of cancer survivors increase, there is an unmet need to understand what their needs are.

Breast cancer survivors do experience a variety of mental health issues, including anxiety, depression. There is sexual dysfunction, and they persist after treatment, and they can be triggered during certain times, such as holidays or when it's time for their scans. And compared to women with no cancer, breast cancer survivors also report more problems with cognition, fatigue, anxiety, and most of these patients, after they lose follow up with their oncologist, they are following up with their primary care physicians, so it is important to educate our primary care providers about the needs of the survivors as they are routinely following up with their primary care physicians.

We need to have better survivorship clinics to address the needs of our survivors, whether it be providing therapy or, you know, or understanding what their needs are in terms of cognition. How does exercise or, you know, better food choices help in management of some of these symptoms? So there needs to be a lot of research that needs to be geared towards our cancer survivors so that we are continuing to support them beyond their treatments for their cancer.