Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42484986›Full record

ArticleJournal of cancer survivorship : research and practice2026

Qualitative thematic analysis of online forum discussions on post-radiation prostate cancer survivorship.

Umar Ghaffar, Architha Sudhakar, Nizar Hakam, Jason L Lui, Christine Shieh, Kevin D Li, Behzad Abbasi, Charles P Jones, Nathan M Shaw, Lindsay A Hampson and 1 more

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Article in Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Umar GhaffarDepartment of Urology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Architha SudhakarDepartment of Urology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Nizar HakamDepartment of Urology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Jason L LuiDepartment of Urology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Christine ShiehDepartment of Urology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Kevin D LiDepartment of Urology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Behzad AbbasiDepartment of Urology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Charles P JonesDivision of urologic surgery, Department of Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
Nathan M ShawDepartment of Urology, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, Washington, DC, USA.
Lindsay A HampsonDepartment of Urology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Benjamin N BreyerDepartment of Urology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA. Benjamin.Breyer@ucsf.edu.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesTo utilize online forums as a source of unprompted patient experiences in understanding the impacts of radiotherapy on patients with prostate cancer. MATERIALS AND

methodsThree online forums: patient.info, Cancer Survivor Network (CSN), and CancerResearchUK were identified by a structured keyword search on Google and searched for relevant posts. Qualitative thematic analysis using grounded-theory principles was performed on publicly available online forum posts using Dedoose (Los Angeles, CA).

resultsOne hundred fifty-seven posts by 91 unique users were analyzed. The most frequently mentioned pelvic and abdominal adverse effects were "increased urine frequency" (n = 31) and "radiation-induced GI tract inflammation" (n = 28) respectively. The majority of posts showed that abdominal and pelvic adverse effects occurred after radiation treatment (n = 154) rather than during radiation treatment (n = 26). Most posts showed that patient's symptoms were ongoing (n = 68) as opposed to resolving with (n = 35) or without (n = 25) treatment.

conclusionsOnline forums were frequently utilized by post-radiation prostate cancer survivors to discuss their experiences and seek peer support. This study provides physicians a deeper understanding about morbidity of post-radiation prostate cancer patients through their own narrative and highlights principal issues resonating among this patient population. IMPLICATIONS FOR CANCER SURVIVORS: For cancer survivors, these findings may facilitate more informed discussions with healthcare providers, improve awareness of potential treatment-related challenges, and underscore the value of peer support communities in survivorship care.

Indexed as

Adverse effectsBrachytherapyOnline forumsProstate cancerRadiationRadiotherapy

Identifiers

PMID42484986

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.