A follow up to a previous study on group therapy in breast cancer patients finds group therapy does not prolong the lives of women with metastatic breast cancer.
Published in the September 1, 2007 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the new case-control trial finds patients with metastatic breast cancer who took part in weekly group psychotherapy had similar survival rates as those given literature-based patient education. Earlier results from the same researcher had suggested a survival benefit of group therapy for women with metastatic breast cancer. However, the new study did find that women with estrogen receptor (ER) negative tumors did show survival benefit, and that group therapy improved quality of life (QOL).
Early reports in the 1980s and 1990s, including published studies by Dr. David Spiegel from Stanford University, found that group psychotherapy for women with metastatic breast cancer improved survival. Dr. Spiegel's 1989 study found that women who received group therapy for one year were more likely to be alive 18-months after diagnosis compared to a group of patients who received no therapy. Four subsequent studies had similar results, but six other studies failed to confirm the finding. Dr. Spiegel and co-investigators sought to replicate their original finding in a new randomized prospective study. For the new study, half (64 of 125) of a group of 125 women with metastatic breast cancer received one year of weekly group support and psychotherapy, in addition to one year of educational literature offered to all subjects. All also received standard oncological treatment for their metastatic breast cancer.