Correspondence (+references): Cancer survivorship: Why labels matter; Beyond semantics

open access

Reply to P. Tralongo et al

"We endorse many of the points Tralongo et al1 make in their
response to our recent article 2 regarding the problems with the label
“cancer survivor.” As they note, “Finding a term that…can interpret
all the aspects of the problem is not merely a matter of semantics. The
term must identify a condition that may already be considered chronic
upon diagnosis, yet characterized by a fluid rather than a flat chronicity.”
1 We agree. As we noted, cancer has never fit the acute/chronic
disease divide particularly well; the present definitional issues around
what to label those who have lived through cancer thus speak to larger
inadequacies in our framework for conceptualizing this collection of
diseases. However, although we applaud the intent of Tralongo
et al to take seriously the problems with existing frameworks, we
are not sure that the solution they have devised moves us beyond
the present situation......


REFERENCES
1. Tralongo P, Annunziata MA, Tirelli U, et al: Beyond semantics: The need to better categorize patients with cancer. J Clin Oncol doi: 10.1200/
JCO.2013.50.0850
2. Bell K, Ristovski-Slijepcevic S: Cancer survivorship: Why labels matter. J Clin Oncol 31:409-411, 2013
3. Mullan F: Seasons of survival: Reflections of a physician with cancer. N Engl J Med 313:270-273, 1985
4. Frank A: At the Will of the Body: Reflections on Illness. Boston, MA,
Houghton Mifflin, 1991
5. Jain SL: Living in prognosis: Toward an elegiac politics. Representations 98:77-92, 2007
6. Tritter JQ, Calnan M: Cancer as a chronic illness? Reconsidering categorization and exploring experience. Eur J Cancer Care 11:161-165, 2002