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131 Background: In 2011 a series of four time-limited, psycho-educational workshops was conducted by a neuropsychologist at a major urban academic medical center, providing information, coping strategies, and resources to women who had been treated for breast cancer (BrCa) and who then sought cognitive treatment. Based on positive evaluations of these workshops, we assessed the prevalence of self-reported cognitive dysfunction in BrCa patients with the goal of expanding cognitive services to all affected cancer patients. Methods: The study was IRB approved. We surveyed a convenience sample of 50 BrCa patients in a single medical oncology waiting room over several weeks. Subjects completed a 16 item questionnaire assessing potential cognitive problems on a 4 point-scale. Results: Fifty patients completed the survey, of whom 46% were currently employed. Sixty-eight percent of respondents were currently receiving cancer treatment and of those, 61.8% had also received prior treatment. Conclusions: An unexpectedly large proportion of BrCa patients perceived cognitive difficulties that may have been compounded by fatigue and emotional dysfunction. Others may have failed to report cognitive difficulties, unaware of their onset. Quality of life of cancer patients is diminished by cognitive decline. The current data indicate a need for formal assessment and intervention programs that will identify patients with cognitive and emotional dysfunction and remediate the difficulties via workshops and therapy. Formal neuropsychological assessment and treatment resourcestargeting cognitive changes associated with cancer should be expanded to meet documented need. Further research will optimize the scheduling and structure of therapeutic interventions. [Table: see text]

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As part of a more lengthy study major, this paper studies the prevalence of depression in cancer patients and the psychological impact that it has on them throughout the healing process. It is known as a fact that such a disease can cause damage not only to the patient's body, but also to his mind. Besides the symptoms of depression, a person that is suffering from cancer can develop other disorders. We researched certain studies that confirm this hypothesis, and as a consequence, we will try to come up with ideas to improve the methods of helping those in need of psychological aid.

200 Background: Psychological distress is common among cancer patients. In order to optimize patient care there is a need to understand the type of patient problems contributing to distress. SDT is a well-recognized tool for assessing distress in 5 broad problem categories including, practical, family, emotional, spiritual/religious, and physical (NCCN distress guidelines: Cancer 2005). The objective of this study was to evaluate categories of distress commonly experienced by breast cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy (RT). Methods: This is a retrospective study on patient symptoms of distress as recorded on SDT surveys. Patients completing SDT have the opportunity to score distress on a scale of 0-10 and list the category of distress. For the purpose of this study, we defined low distress score to be ≤ 3, and high distress score of ≥ 4 requiring referral/intervention. Patient population included 121 patients receiving a 3-6 week course of breast RT and who completed ≥ 2 weekly surveys during therapy. A total of 433 surveys were reviewed for score and category of distress. Results: Median age was 56 years (range 32-88). Each patient completed an average of 3.58 surveys. The median distress score was 3 (range 0-10). Overall distribution of any distress by problem category was 1.6% spiritual/religious, 3.7% family, 10.6% practical, 23.3% emotional, and 60.8% physical. Further, we noted that 63 patients (53%) described a high distress score (≥ 4). Among this cohort, 47 patients (74.6%) reported that their distress was secondary to emotional problems. We observed no association between high distress score and patient age or stage of disease. Conclusions: Physical problems were the most common symptom reported on SDT in our study population. However, among the patients identified to have high distress score, emotional problems emerged as the most common cause of distress. These observations suggest that although patients undergoing treatment have many physical complaints, the more significant symptoms requiring referral/intervention were in the emotional category. The identification of more significant problems experienced by patients would help optimize their psychosocial supportive needs.