@article{a2366b02c8e44e6299b946c934f4cbe8,
title = "Navigator-assisted hypofractionation (NAVAH) to address radiation therapy access disparities facing African-Americans with breast cancer",
abstract = "Background: African-Americans have the highest overall cancer death rate and shortest survival time of any racial or ethnic group in the United States. The most common cancer studied in African-American radiation therapy (RT ) access disparities research is breast cancer. The goal of this study is to evaluate the impact of patient navigation on RT access for African-American breast cancer patients. Material and methods: This study is a prospective survey-based evaluation of the impact of patient navigation on access to hypofractionated RT and financial toxicity in African-American breast cancer patients. The impact of patient navigation on RT access will be collated and analyzed from survey results pre-RT versus post-RT as well as for patients with versus without receipt of patient navigation. The validated COST-Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy score will be used to compare hypofractionation versus standard fractionated RT financial toxicity for patients with early-stage breast cancer who have received lumpectomy. Conclusion: This is the first study to investigate the impact of patient navigation on reducing RT access disparities facing African-American breast cancer patients.",
keywords = "Adjuvant radiation therapy, African-american race, Breast cancer, Health disparities, Hypofractionation, Patient navigation",
author = "Shearwood McClelland and Harris, {Eleanor E.} and Spratt, {Daniel E.} and Chesley Cheatham and Yilun Sun and Oliver, {Alexandria L.} and Jaboin, {Jerry J.} and Reshma Jagsi and Petereit, {Daniel G.}",
note = "Funding Information: These findings from NAVAH will provide important insights into objectively quantified barriers faced by African-American breast cancer patients in receiving RT, the impact of patient navigation on these barriers, and the financial toxicity of standard versus hypofractionated RT. The natural progression of this work will be to expand this model to include additional breast cancer populations most vulnerable to suffering RT access disparities within the United States (Native American, Hispanic American, Appalachian) previously described [38–40], and eventually other common malignancies, such as prostate cancer, another common cancer where evidence to support hypofractionated regimens has been accumulating and disparities in outcomes remain substantial. Further progression will involve formal clinical trial investigation towards actively addressing barriers in receipt of RT. Conflicts of Interest: Dr. McClelland has received travel funding from GT Medical Technologies, Inc. Dr. Harris has received an honorarium from Physician Education Resource as a speaker for the School of Breast Oncology. Dr. Spratt receives research funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Prostate Cancer Foundation and personal fees from AstraZeneca, Bayer, Blue Earth, Boston Scientific, GT Medical Technologies Inc., Janssen, Novartis, and Varian. Dr. Jagsi has stock options as compensation for her advisory board role in Equity Quotient, a company that evaluates culture in health care companies; she has received personal fees from the National Institutes of Health as a special government employee (in her role as a member of the Advisory Committee for Research on Women{\textquoteright}s Health), the Greenwall Foundation, and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. She has received grants for unrelated work from the National Institutes of Health, the Doris Duke Foundation, the Greenwall Foundation, the Komen Foundation, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan for the Michigan Radiation Oncology Quality Consortium. She had a contract to conduct an investigator initiated study with Genentech. She has served as an expert witness for Sherinian and Hasso, Dress- man Benzinger LaVelle, and Kleinbard LLC. Dr. Petereit is the president emeritus of the American Brachytherapy Society and receives research funding from Bristol Meyers Squibb Foundation, Polo Ralph Lauren, the Irving A Hansen Memorial Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health. No other author has any conflicts of interest. Funding Information: Source of Financial Support/Funding Statement: The NAVAH program is sponsored by the University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center Department of Radiation Oncology. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022. Greater Poland Cancer Centre",
year = "2022",
doi = "10.5603/RPOR.a2022.0064",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "27",
pages = "583--588",
journal = "Reports of Practical Oncology and Radiotherapy",
issn = "1507-1367",
publisher = "Elsevier Urban and Partner sp. z o.o.",
number = "3",
}