BackgroundAn insufficient number of studies have been carried out in the Middle East to evaluate the role of structured psychotherapeutic interventions in enhancing breast cancer patients’ psychological well-being, quality of life and treatment compliance. This study has been designed to address this limitation by exploring the benefit of two structured psychotherapeutic interventions, crisis counseling and psychoeducation, in enhancing breast cancer patients’ psychological well-being, quality of life and treatment compliance in Qatar.MethodsA total of 201 women with early-stage breast cancer from the state of Qatar were recruited and randomized into either the control group or one of the treatment groups (crisis counseling or psychoeducation). Each of the two treatment interventions consisted of a total of six 60- to 90-minute sessions, which were provided over a period of 12 weeks. The short- and long-term benefits of the crisis counseling and psychoeducation interventions were evaluated in terms of improving patients’ psychological well-being, quality of life and treatment compliance by asking all the patients to complete the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale, 21 item version (DASS-21) and European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life scale (QLQ-C30) instruments at different points in time and by monitoring their compliance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment.ResultsThis study revealed that both of the study interventions, crisis counseling and psychoeducation, were effective in improving women’s psychological well-being and quality of life over time in comparison to the control group, but had no significant impact on patients’ compliance with treatment. In addition, the study showed that psychoeducation conferred a greater advantage than did the crisis counseling model, especially in improving women’s psychological well-being over time.ConclusionThis study is considered the first of its kind in Qatar to provide evidence on the benefit of crisis counseling and psychoeducation interventions in improving the psychological well-being and quality of life of women with early-stage breast cancer in Qatar. In addition, this study has provided innovative research that can be used as evidence to propose changes to the psychotherapy services for breast cancer patients in Qatar. This research study aims to provide a first step toward further research in the future, which will hopefully lead to a better health care system for cancer patients in Qatar.

Background:Globally, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is responsible for approximately 15% of all invasive Breast cancer and has been typically associated with poor prognosis. Some retrospective studies have suggested a relatively higher incidence of TNBC in the Middle East and North African Arab countries. Nevertheless, there is complete lack of prospective data, on TNBC in the region, including clinico-pathologic characteristics, treatment patterns and disease outcomes. The TRIPOLI study aims to bridge this information gap.Methods:TRIPOLI is an ongoing prospective multinational, disease registry, designed to recruit 700 newly diagnosed TNBC patients, from 15 institutions within 9 Arab countries: Egypt, Jordon, Morocco, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and Iraq. This interim analysis includes the patients’ characteristics and treatment approaches of the first 449 cases included in the study from December 2017 to September 2019.Results:All the 449 TNBC patients were females, with a median age of 49 years (range 23.8 - 93.6 years). Premenopausal status was reported in 54.7%, while a positive family history of BC was stated in 25.2% of these cases. 0.2% of patients were below normal (BMI<18.5), 17.2% had normal weight (18.5≤BMI<25), and 30.5% were overweight (25≤BMI<30). Obesity (BMI ≥ 30) was present in 52% of these patients, while a parity of ≥3 children was present in 254 patients (59.8%) Sixty-six patients (14.7%) had tumours smaller than 2cm. 159 patients (35.4%) had node negative disease. The majority of patients had invasive duct carcinoma (87.1%) with 5 patients (1.1%) grade I, 181 (40.3%) grade II and 234 (52.1%) grade III tumours (29 (6.5%) had unknown histological grade). Thirty-four patients (7.6%) presented with stage I disease, 203 patients (45.2%) with stage II, 161 patients (35.9%) with stage III and 50 patients (11.1%) presented with stage IV disease.Out of the 387 patients with non-metastatic disease who started treatment, 217 patients (56.1%) had upfront surgery and 170 patients (43.9%) started with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Compared to patients > 40 years, patients ≤ 40 years were less likely to be obese (39.4% versus 60.6%; p=0.002), more likely to have grade III tumours (62.3% versus 53.5%; p=0.116), more likely to have T3 or T4 tumours (41.4% versus 32.7%; p=0.038).Conclusion:In this interim analysis, Arab women with TNBC had high parity (≥ 3) and high BMI, compared to existing literature based on western population. High tumor grade, younger age and advanced stages at presentation are in line with similar world-wide reports. Younger women in the Arab region (≤40 years) presented with poor prognostic features, which will be further elucidated in subsequent reports. Citation Format: Hamdy A. Azim, Alaa Kandil, Heba El Zawahry, Hikmat Abdel-Razeq, Hesham Elghazaly, Suad Al Kharusi, Manal M. Abdelwahab, Salah Fayaz, Ahmed Saadeddin, Huda A. Alabdulkarim, Rasha Aboelhassan, Hassan Errihani, Tahseen Al Rubai, Salha Bujassoum Al Bader, Nashwa Mohamed Abdel Aziz, Nagi El Saghir, Giulia Attinà, Ahmed Yosry, Mohamed El Leithy, Loay Kassem, Marwan Ghosn. Triple negative breast cancer prospective registry in middle East and Africa (TRIPOLI) study: Interim analysis of the patients’ characteristics [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Virtual Symposium; 2020 Dec 8-11; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(4 Suppl):Abstract nr PS7-65.

No abstract