
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 31, 1992                   TAG: 9203310212
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ST. PETERSBURG, FLA.                                LENGTH: Short

PSYCHOLOGY PROGRAM AIDS CANCER PATIENTS

Skin cancer patients in a short-term psychological program showed better coping and mood five years later, as well as an unexplained reduction in cancer recurrence, a researcher said Monday.

Scientists now are reviewing the data to seek an explanation for the reduced recurrence, said Dr. Fawzy Fawzy.

Perhaps participants simply had a better working relationship with their doctors, said Fawzy, a professor in the department of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Fawzy, who presented his research at the American Cancer Society's annual science writers seminar, stressed the psychological program was done in addition to standard treatment, rather than in place of it.

The study also found evidence that the program helped patients' immune systems by some measures, but Fawzy cautioned that the significance of that was not clear.

by CNB