Survey: Chemotherapy fears worse than treatment

Although most cancer survivors polled in a recent survey said they had been fearful of undergoing chemotherapy, most also said the treatments were much less trying than they had expected. In fact, 94 percent said they would advise others to undergo chemotherapy if their doctor recommended it.

The survey polled 326 U.S. adults who had undergone cancer chemotherapy and was sponsored by the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship and drug maker Sanofi Aventis.

Sixty-three percent of those surveyed said their fears were unjustified and just 14 percent described their side effects as very difficult. Thirty-two percent had a somewhat easy or very easy experience with treatment. But a new study finds those fears may be unfounded.