Sources of support perceived by parents of children with cancer: implications for counselling.

Providing social support for families of pediatric cancer patients remains a challenge. The perceived helpfulness of 11 potential support sources was assessed by 107 parents of children with cancer. They rated the spouse, the medical community, and parents from a mutual help group as the most helpful. Mental health professionals and the church were seen less frequently and perceived as less helpful. No significant differences were found in the patterns of social support among parents with children in different stages of treatment. More than half the parents responding to a question on what they needed most during their children's illness mentioned emotional support and counselling. Mental health professionals may find that crisis/supportive and educative models and frequent contact are useful counselling approaches in dealing with families of cancer patients. A team approach to pediatric oncological treatment, consisting of a primary physician, nurse, and psychological consultant, may be a way to optimize the early and flexible involvement of psychosocial staff in total care.

The pathology of breast cancer in women irradiated for acute postpartum mastitis.

The gross and microscopic pathology of breast cancers in women irradiated for acute postpartum mastitis was compared to the breast cancers found in the sisters of the irradiated women. Fifty-one cancers in 50 irradiated women and 25 cancers in 24 nonirradiated women were examined. In considering the lesions in the two populations, the size, location, histologic type, histologic grade, inflammatory response, lymphatic and blood vascular invasion, nipple involvement, axillary lymph node metastases, and menopausal status at the time of diagnosis were statistically indistinguishable. The only parameter that was different in the two populations was the desmoplastic response to the malignant lesion (P = 0.04). The control population had more marked fibrosis within the cancers compared with the irradiated women. With the exception of stromal response, this study shows that breast cancer in irradiated women is similar in the parameters evaluated to breast cancer in a control population.