[What do chemotherapy specialists expect of lung cancer?] / Qu'attendent les médecins spécialistes de la chimiothérapie des cancers du poumon ?

OBJECTIVE: In an attempt to understand physicians' expectations of chemotherapy, a group of lung cancer specialists was involved in an online survey investigating their opinions by a self-questionnaire. The questionnaire described five different chemotherapy prescription situations for lung cancer patients (stages IIIB or IV). METHOD: A total of 30 expert specialists were invited; 22 responded (73%). For each of the clinical situations, the expert was asked for his opinion on 3 items: cure, prolongation of survival and alleviation of symptoms. Each item was judged on a Likert scale with categories between -2 "not at all probable" and +2 "quite likely". RESULTS: For "cure", the percentage of -2 responses differed significantly according to the clinical situation (Fisher test: P<0.00001). The trend test showed a relationship between the percentage of -2 responses and the suspected order of the clinical situations (Cochran-Armitage trend test: P<0.0001). For symptom alleviation, the percentage of responses +2 and +1 differed significantly according to the clinical situation (Fisher test: P=0.00013, trend test: P<0.0001). CONCLUSION: What specialist physicians expect of chemotherapy in terms of curability and symptom relief differs according to the actual statistical prognosis of each situation as presented in the literature. The worst prognostic situation leads to the strongest expectation in terms of symptom relief and, conversely, the lowest for curability.

[One more word about the diagnostic. A metapsychological approach]. / Encore un mot sur l'annonce Une approche métapsychologique.

Nearly a decade since the first experiment in France of the so-called "announcement policy" a concerted effort, the pooling of skills of health professionals from different backgrounds, have had noticeable positive effects on the daily practice. This article attempts at analyzing the question that was causing the application of former patients and their main complaint: the lack of communication and its direct consequences, anguish and loneliness. Subsequently, the announcement policy, this multifaceted approach, had consisted of creating for the patient what can be called "a good enough environment able to hold". It is therefore not a plan but a disposal (if we are willing to agree on the fact that these are the qualities of the therapeutic setting that count and not the format by itself). Considering the ipseity of each patient, the uniqueness of each particular situation, of each social background, the need for harmonization of the announcement policy is questionable. Harmonization does not mean uniformity. The quality of this policy must be adapted closer to each case. However, it must be based on the basic principles and might also take into account the dimension of anguish. These fundamental principles are directly derived from the principles of medical humanism, those that have brought meaning to scientific progress.