The hidden financial burden of treating cancer care symptoms

Questions To Ask Your Health Care Provider

• What is the cost of the medication prescribed?
• Is a there a generic drug alternative available to treat my side effects?
• Can I change anything in my daily life to avoid these side effects?
• Would any non-pharmaceutical options help alleviate my symptoms?
• Do you know of any coupons or copay assistance programs for this product?
• Are options related to formulation (the way the drug is taken) or dose available that could lower my cost?

Open Clinical Trials

The following studies look at management of side effects: 

Multiple cancers

• NCT02296450: Quality of Life (QoL) Assessment in Cancer Patients and Survivors With Dermatologic Conditions Using Dermatologic QoL Instruments. This large study examines how skin conditions that are related to different kinds of cancer or cancer treatments affect a patient's overall well-being. 
• NCT05056077: Tools to be Fit. This quality-of-life study examines fwhat tools work best for helping cancer survivors improve their diet and exercise for people with bladder, breast, colon, endometrial, kidney (renal cell carcinoma), ovarian, prostate or rectal cancer.
• NCT03996265: Bupropion in Reducing Cancer Related Fatigue in Cancer Survivors. This study tests how well the drug bupropion (welbutrin) reduces cancer-related fatigue for cancer survivors.

Breast cancer

• NCT04586530: Telehealth and Memory Study (TAMS). This trial seeks to confirm the effectiveness of a cognitive-behavioral therapy, the Memory and Attention Adaptation Training (TAMS), as a treatment for chemotherapy-related cognitive dysfunction among breast cancer survivors.
• NCT02290834: Chemotherapy-induced cognitive and brain changes in older adults with breast cancer. The study investigates cognitive abilities and brain images before and after chemotherapy to identify people at risk for cognitive side effects and to better understand the effects of treatment on brain structure and function.
• NCT04906200: Web-Based Symptom Monitoring and Self-Management Portal for Adolescent and Young Adult Breast Cancer Survivors. This compares a web-based patient-reported symptom-monitoring and self-management portal to standard therapy in young breast cancer survivors. 
• NCT04837820: The Effect of Acupuncture on Cancer-Related Cognitive Difficulties. This study tests whether acupuncture improves thinking and insomnia for breast cancer survivors. This study also looks at insomnia's link to cognitive difficulties.
• NCT03879629: TrAstuzumab Cardiomyopathy Therapeutic Intervention With Carvedilol (TACTIC). Breast cancer patients receiving Herceptin or other HER2-directed therapy are at risk of heart damage. This study looks at whether beta-blocker drugs could help prevent this from happening.   

Colorectal cancer

• NCT05239338: Preserving Fertility After Colorectal Cancer Study (PREFACE). This study investigates the reproductive health and clinical outcomes among individuals diagnosed with colorectal cancer ages 18 to 49.
• NCT06420726: Resistance Exercise and Creatine in Colorectal Cancer. This study assesses the feasibilty of combining creatine supplementation with resistance training versus resistance training alone in colorectal cancer survivors. 

Ovarian cancer

• NCT04533763: Living WELL: A Web-Based Program for Ovarian Cancer Survivors. This project studies whether a group-based and web-delivered tool increases quality of life and decreases stress, depressive mood, anxiety and fatigue across a 12-month period for ovarian cancer survivors.
• NCT05047926: Prehabilitation for Advanced Ovarian Cancer Patients. This study tests whether structured activity for women undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy improves their physical state prior to surgery and thus improve outcomes.

Prostate cancer

• NCT03971591: Men Moving Forward: A Lifestyle Program for African-American Prostate Cancer Survivors (MMF). This study looks at Men Moving Forward (MMF), a community-based lifestyle intervention that supports adherence to nutrition and physical activity guidelines to promote improved body composition and lessen the side effects of treatment.
• NCT05155501: Pelvic Fascia spARing Radical Prostatectomy TrIAL (PARTIAL).  This clinical trial studies whether pelvic fascia-sparing radical prostatectomy has similar cancer control and sexual function outcomes; and significantly better urinary function, less penile deformity and inguinal hernia risks as compared to radical prostatectomy.