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Atypical cartilaginous tumors (ACT’s) are rare bone tumors and the usual treatment used to be surgery. Since ACT of the long bones are no longer considered malignant, treatment is shifting from surgery to active surveillance with radiographic follow-up.
This development requires adaptation of patient information. In order to make a well-informed decision about the preferred management of an ACT, patients need to be well counselled with complete and updated information.
Petra Veldman, Nurse Practitioner of the Department of Orthopaedics Radboudumc, implemented a decision aid for patients with an ACT. During implementation, the preferences of patients with an ACT in the long-bones were investigated.
In thirty-four months, eighty-four patients were provided with information about the disease, the treatment options, and the risks and benefits of active surveillance and surgical treatment. Patients received a decision aid digitally, supplemented with preference questions. The given answers to these questions were evaluated qualitatively in relation to the final choice of treatment.
Patients considered the information supplied by the decision aid as comprehensible and supportive in their decision making. None of the patients who preferred active surveillance later underwent surgery. Only four patients underwent surgery based on patients’ preference.
The decision aid contributes to shared decision making. The preference for treatment generally corresponds to the eventual treatment.
This study was part of Claudia Deckers' PhD thesis “Cartilaginous bone tumours – New perspectives on treatment of atypical cartilaginous tumours” and is published in PEC Innovation: Shared decision making: Does a decision aid support patients with an atypical cartilaginous tumor in making a decision about treatment - Petra I Veldman-Goossen, Claudia Deckers, Edwin F Dierselhuis, Hendrik W B Schreuder, Ingrid C M van der Geest
