Dr. Clara N. Lee receives NIH grant for decision-making process study

American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) member Clara Lee, MD, MPP, has been awarded a five-year, $862,700 career development award from the National Institutes of Health to investigate the decision-making process of breast cancer survivors considering breast reconstruction.

"The decision about whether or not to have breast reconstruction should depend almost completely on a patient's personal preferences", says Dr. Lee, Associate Professor and Director of Research in the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. "And yet we find that rates of breast reconstruction in the United States vary greatly by race, socioeconomic status, and geography. In this study, we will evaluate the decision-making process and the quality of decisions about reconstruction".

Dr. Lee and her colleagues also intend to study some novel psychological aspects of patients' decisions. "Deciding about breast reconstruction requires a patient to predict how she would feel after the procedure, a process called affective forecasting", she says. "Extensive psychological research has shown that people have difficulty making accurate predictions about how they will feel, tending to overestimate the effects of disease and treatments on their well-being and to underestimate their ability to adapt to change and the effects of other aspects of their lives".

Ultimately, Dr. Lee says her goal is to help more patients receive the treatments they prefer and improve the quality of life for women with breast cancer.