A study comparing having paclitaxel chemotherapy at home or in hospital for advanced breast or ovarian cancer (Care-in-Chemo, or C-in-C study)

The study team found that when given the choice, nearly half the people asked would prefer to have chemotherapy at home.

The researchers interviewed 60 people who were having chemotherapy at the hospital. Of these people, 9 didn’t know what their first choice would be. Nearly half of the rest said their first choice would be to have it at home.

The study team said that these findings are in line with other studies that show between 50 and 75 people out of every 100 (50 to 75%) would choose to have treatment at home.

People gave varied reasons for wanting to have chemotherapy at home. The reasons given were influenced by the individuals’ personality, their age, state of health and home situation. For people living alone, going to the hospital gave them some social support during their treatment.

The problems identified with having chemotherapy at home included not being able to depend on the time the nurse arrived and the poor management of processing the blood tests before the nurse can give chemotherapy.

The study team could not find a clear answer as to whether the costs were lower. But they did find that the way the costs were spread out was different depending on where people had their treatment. They also found there were extra costs not related to treatment, for example car parking.

The study team concluded that people having chemotherapy had different needs, abilities, family situations and preferences.

We have based this summary on information from the team who ran the trial. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists (peer reviewed ) and published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team. We have not analysed the data ourselves.