[Withdrawal of Anticancer Therapy in Advanced Disease Because of Side Effects]

Withdrawal of chemotherapy because of side effects may be due to"problems with toxicity"or"patient refusal"."Problems with toxicity"is intended to secure patient safety and decisions about it are primarily made by the oncologist. On the other hand,"patient refusal"is influenced by the degree of distress the patient is experiencing and the patient's preference. Providing sufficient medical information is essential in decision making, because it is a decision made by the patient. In addition, the perception of side effects has changed owing to progress in supportive therapy in recent years. In particular, cancer patients are concerned about changes in appearance. In our study(4/2015 to 3/2016), chemotherapy was withdrawn because of side effects during treatment for solid carcinomas in 8%(4/51)of the patients. Two of these patients experienced liver function disorders, and 2 developed interstitial pneumonitis. Patient refusal was observed in 2%(1/51)of the patients.