The farther they have to travel, the less likely cancer patients are to receive follow-up chemotherapy after surgery, a new study finds.
This type of treatment, called adjuvant chemotherapy, is recommended for many patients after surgery to reduce the chance of cancer returning.
This study looked at nearly 34,700 patients across the United States who had surgery for colon cancer, and found that nearly 76 percent received adjuvant chemotherapy within 90 days of surgery.
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Compared to patients who had to travel less than 12.5 miles to appointments, those who had to travel 50 to 249 miles were 13 percent less likely to receive chemotherapy. And those who had to travel 250 miles or more were nearly two-thirds less likely to receive chemotherapy.