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Updated: Aug 27, 2025
Author Spotlight: Improving Radiation Therapy Access with Radiation Planning Assistant
Published on: October 6, 2023
Navigator-assisted hypofractionation (NAVAH) to address radiation therapy access disparities facing African-Americans
Shearwood McClelland1,2, Eleanor E Harris1, Daniel E Spratt1
1Department of Radiation Oncology, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, United States.
Background:
African-Americans have the highest overall cancer death rate and shortest survival time of any racial or ethnic group in the United States. The most common cancer studied in African-American radiation therapy (RT) access disparities research is breast cancer. The goal of this study is to evaluate the impact of patient navigation on RT access for African-American breast cancer patients.
Material And Methods:
This study is a prospective survey-based evaluation of the impact of patient navigation on access to hypofractionated RT and financial toxicity in African-American breast cancer patients. The impact of patient navigation on RT access will be collated and analyzed from survey results pre-RT versus post-RT as well as for patients with versus without receipt of patient navigation. The validated COST-Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy score will be used to compare hypofractionation versus standard fractionated RT financial toxicity for patients with early-stage breast cancer who have received lumpectomy.
Conclusion:
This is the first study to investigate the impact of patient navigation on reducing RT access disparities facing African-American breast cancer patients. The natural progression of this work will be to expand this model to include additional breast cancer populations most vulnerable to suffering RT access disparities (Native American, Hispanic American, Appalachian) within the United States.
