Cancer patients' insight into their treatment, prognosis, and unconventional therapies.

The authors interviewed 190 patients with metastatic cancer to determine their insight into their disease, treatment and prognosis. They also explored their attitudes to religion, their guilt feelings, and the persons with whom they discussed their condition. The authors also examined the feelings of 315 patients with a diagnosis of cancer toward unconventional therapies. It was found that only 55% of the patients were aware that their cancer had spread, and only 48% knew the location of their metastases. The majority of patients seemed satisfied with the amount of information they received from their physician although 38% of the patients believed their knowledge about their cancer was inadequate. Patients were optimistic about their treatment in that 37% thought it would cure them and 60% thought it would control their metastatic disease. A third of the patients had become more religious since learning they had cancer, but only 6% of the patients saw the development of cancer as a form of punishment. About 25% of the patients thought that either Laetrile, vitamins, or special diets could cure cancer, and 70% said they would take these forms of treatment if available, although only 7% were taking or had taken an unconventional therapy.