["Good advice is precious." The second opinion from the point of view of an interdisciplinary cancer therapy center]

Analysis of motives and patient satisfaction in oncological second opinions provided by a certified university breast and gynecological cancer center

Purpose

Second opinions in oncology are becoming increasingly important in an era of more complex treatments and a growing demand for information by patients. Therefore, we analyzed their effects and influencing factors like patients’ motives, subjective extent of information and satisfaction with communications.

Methods

This prospective study evaluated second opinions for patients with breast cancer or gynecological malignancy. The patients received a questionnaire before and two months after, which inquired expectations, reasons, and satisfaction with the second opinion and the attending physicians.

Results

A total of 164 patients were included and the majority had breast cancer (75.0%). Receiving the second opinion made 89.7% feel better informed, their need for information decreased (from 75.3% to 39.2%, P < 0.0001), and satisfaction with doctor–patient communications increased (from 61.9 to 91.8%, P = 0.0002). There were various reasons for requesting a second opinion, e.g., the extremely stressful situation of a cancer diagnosis, hope for change in the treatment recommendation or dissatisfaction with the initial physicians.

Conclusions

Second opinions can lead to significantly greater patient satisfaction, meeting the need for information and leading to better management of patients in the extremely stressful situation of a cancer diagnosis. Doctor–patient communications play a key role.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1007/s00404-020-05525-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.