title: "What if…": decisional regret in patients who discontinued active surveillance.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the presence of regret in patients about having followed an active surveillance (AS) protocol. The secondary aim was to identify variables that influence regret.
  
  
  METHODS
  From February 2006 to May 2014, 204 patients discontinued the AS protocols and were invited to enter the study. Sociodemographic variables were collected at AS enrollment, together with health-related quality of life (Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Prostate version [FACT-P]) and coping (Mini-Mental Adjustment to Cancer). Patients were asked to complete a Treatment Regret Scale as well as the FACT-P questionnaire. Clinical data were gathered, as well as time of stay within the AS protocol, reason for discontinuing AS, kind of post-AS treatment, and time elapsed since AS discontinuation. Questionnaires were completed by 105 patients (51.5% of those who had been invited to enter the study).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Most of the patients had a low or null degree of regret on the Treatment Regret Scale from 0 to 100 (82/105 patients [78.1%] obtained a score &lt;30, and about 30% of the sample had a score equal to zero). Only 5 patients (4.7%) scored 60 or more, indicating some degree of regret. None of the statistical tests between regret scores and a number of analyzed variables reached significance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results show that the degree of regret about following an AS protocol and after its discontinuation because of entering active treatment was very low. The regret after AS was not related to sociodemographic or clinical factors.
authors.affiliation:  Prostate Cancer Program, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan - Italy.| Department of Psychology, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Milan - Italy.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Repetto
authors.affiliation:  Prostate Cancer Program, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan - Italy.
authors.forename: Tiziana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rancati
authors.affiliation:  Prostate Cancer Program, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan - Italy.
authors.forename: Tiziana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Magnani
authors.affiliation:  Prostate Cancer Program, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan - Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Francesca
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Alvisi
authors.affiliation:  Radiation Oncology 1, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan - Italy.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Avuzzi
authors.affiliation:  Prostate Cancer Program, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan - Italy.
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Badenchini
authors.affiliation:  Prostate Cancer Program, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan - Italy.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Marenghi
authors.affiliation:  Urology Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan - Italy.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stagni
authors.affiliation:  Urology Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan - Italy.
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maffezzini
authors.affiliation:  Radiation Oncology 1, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan - Italy.
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Villa
authors.affiliation:  Prostate Cancer Program, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan - Italy.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Villa
authors.affiliation:  Urology Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan - Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Salvioni
authors.affiliation:  Prostate Cancer Program, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan - Italy.| Radiation Oncology 1, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan - Italy.
authors.forename: Riccardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Valdagni
authors.affiliation:  Prostate Cancer Program, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan - Italy.
authors.forename: Lara
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bellardita
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003657:Decision Making; D004644:Emotions; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires