Announcing the Awarded Projects – Improving Care of EBC Patients in Europe
We are pleased to announce the two winning projects selected in response to the recent call for proposals “Improving Care of Early Breast Cancer (EBC) Patients in Europe” supported by Eli Lilly and Company, in collaboration with SPCC.
Congratulations to IEO European Institute of Oncology and LMU University Hospital for their projects and innovative approaches to addressing gaps in EBC treatment and improving patient care.
Projects Awarded
IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Italy
“Development and testing of a patient’s decision aid for breast cancer at an early stage: a new tool to promote patient’s engagement in their healthcare process”
The early diagnosis of breast cancer profoundly affects women, causing significant physical and emotional changes that may hinder patient engagement and treatment adherence. Establishing strong doctor-patient communication and relationships during initial consultations is crucial for enhancing care and patient’s quality of life. Understanding patients’ experiences, needs, and preferences, along with physicians’ perspectives on communication, is essential for promoting shared decision-making (SDM). This project proposes developing an interactive Patient Decision Aid (PDA) tailored to patients’ needs to facilitate SDM during medical consultations. Through a mixed-method analysis involving interviews with breast cancer patients and oncology’s, the study assesses information needs, develop the PDA, and test its impact on SDM and quality of life. The ultimate goal is to refine the PDA based on feedback and produce a final version aligned with both patient and physician preferences.
LMU University Hospital, Germany
“Care improvement for early breast cancer patients treated with oral tumor therapy (CarEoTT)”
In recent years, targeted therapies previously standard for hormone receptor-positive (HR+/HER2-neg) metastatic breast cancer (MBC) have been expanded to include high-risk breast cancer in the adjuvant setting. This expansion in complex oral tumour therapy management (OTT) is expected to lead to a rapid increase in patient numbers and duration of therapies up to 3 years in EBC, necessitating a re-evaluation of therapy management practices. Additionally, oral tumour therapies pose specific challenges, emphasizing the need for enhanced and personalized patient care.
Given the complexity of care for these patients, CarEoTT aims to implement and evaluate standardized oral therapy consultation sessions, involving trained non-doctoral staff to improve patient adherence and facilitate shared decision-making with the oncology team. The project, adopting an interdisciplinary approach inclusive of specialized nurses and pharmacists, will be performed in Germany and Italy, where interprofessional care is not yet fully established. Furthermore, e-Health based support has proven helpful for oncologists, nurses, and patients during oral therapy treatment.
In CarEoTT, the app Cankado is used for improvement of adherence, side effect management and patient empowerment.
As breast cancer remains a prevalent diagnosis worldwide, initiatives like this are more crucial than ever. SPCC and Lilly pledge to finance these projects as they work towards improving outcomes for breast cancer patients.
Download the Press Release here.