Adult and adolescent survivors of childhood cancer who receive their follow-up care from a family physician must be empowered to choose a physician who is comfortable with caring for survivors. Further, the survivor must ensure that their physician has access to a treatment summary as well as to patient-specific recommendations for surveillance for late effects of cancer therapy.

Background Adult childhood cancer survivors (CCSs) are at high risk for illness and premature death. Little is known about the physicians who provide their routine medical care. Objective To determine general internists’ self-reported attitudes and knowledge about the care of CCSs. Design Cross-sectional survey. Setting Mailed survey delivered between September 2011 and August 2012. Participants Random sample of 2000 U.S. general internists. Measurements Care preferences, comfort levels with caring for CCSs (7-point Likert scale: 1 = very uncomfortable, 7 = very comfortable), familiarity with available surveillance guidelines (7-point Likert scale: 1 = very unfamiliar, 7 = very familiar), and concordance with Children’s Oncology Group Long-Term Follow-Up Guidelines in response to a clinical vignette. Results The response rate was 61.6% (1110 of 1801). More than half the internists (51.1%) reported caring for at least 1 CCS; 72.0% of these internists never received a treatment summary. On average, internists were “somewhat uncomfortable” caring for survivors of Hodgkin lymphoma, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and osteosarcoma. Internists reported being “somewhat unfamiliar” with available surveillance guidelines. In response to a clinical vignette about a young adult survivor of Hodgkin lymphoma, 90.6% of respondents did not appropriately recommend yearly breast cancer surveillance, 85.1% did not appropriately recommended cardiac surveillance, and 23.6% did not appropriately recommend yearly thyroid surveillance. Access to surveillance guidelines and treatment summaries were identified as the most useful resources for caring for CCSs. Limitation Findings, based on self-report, may not reflect actual clinical practice. Conclusion Although most general internists report involvement in the care of CCSs, many seem unfamiliar with available surveillance guidelines and would prefer to follow patients in collaboration with a cancer center. Primary Funding Source National Cancer Institute.

No abstract

No abstract

9586 Background: Although most childhood cancer survivors (CCS) report obtaining health care in the community, primary care physicians’ views and knowledge regarding the long-term follow-up (LTFU) care of CCS are largely unknown. Methods: Surveys were mailed to a random sample of 1,907 general internists under age 65 years from the American Medical Association Physician Masterfile in November 2011. A second mailing to non-responders is ongoing. Results: 892 (47%) physicians have responded. Respondents have practiced a median of 10 years (range: 3-20), and see a median of 70 patients/week (range: 40-100). 46% are in solo/group practice, 17% in multi-specialty practice, and 14% in academic practice. In the last five years, 53% have seen at least one CCS, 71% of whom have never received a treatment summary. 85% prefer to care for CCS in consultation with a cancer center based physician. A vignette of a 29-year-old female treated for Hodgkin lymphoma with mantle radiation at age 16 was provided and participants were asked a series of questions regarding monitoring for late effects. The percentage of responses that were concordant with available LTFU Surveillance Guidelines were: breast cancer, 29%; cardiac, 15%; thyroid, 77%; and all three recommendations, only 5%. By logistic regression, greater likelihood of concordance with at least one surveillance recommendation was associated with being female (OR=2.0 95% CI 1.3-3.1), seeing more patients/week (OR=1.4 per SD increase, 95% CI 1.1-1.7) and more years in practice (OR=1.3 per SD increase, 95% CI 1.0-1.6). The two modalities felt to be most useful for independent care of CCS by internists were access to LTFU guidelines and receiving a patient-specific care plan from the cancer center. Conclusions: Although the majority of internists are willing to follow CCS, they appear unfamiliar with the available LTFU guidelines and prefer to care for patients in collaboration with a cancer center based physician.