For men with early-stage prostate cancer, choices about initial treatment carry varying risks of “financial toxicity,” reports a study in The Journal of Urology®, Official Journal of the American Urological Association (AUA).
The cost of cancer care can be high and the financial burden of prostate cancer treatment can be a significant source of stress for men and their families. “Cost of treatment and the associated financial burden could be an important factor in treatment decisions,” says Daniel A. Barocas, MD, MPH, associate professor of urology and medicine at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn. and senior author of this new paper. Financial toxicity is a relatively new term in cancer care and can be defined as “the distress or hardship experienced by patients due to the cost of cancer treatment.”
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