Effekte psychosozialer Betreuung auf die Überlebenszeit von Patienten mit gastro-intestinalen Tumoren – 10-Jahres-Follow-up einer prospektiven randomisierten Studie

A randomized controlled trial was conducted in cooperation with the Departments of General Surgery and Medical Psychology, University Hospital of Hamburg, Germany from 1/1991–12/1992. Two hundred and seventy-one consenting patients with a preliminary diagnosis of cancer of the esophagus, stomach, liver/gallbladder, pancreas or colon/rectum were stratified by gender and randomly assigned to a control group that received standard care as provided on the surgical wards, or to an experimental group that received formal psychotherapeutic support in addition to routine care during the hospital stay.