By Melissa Schorr

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Cancer patients' increasing reliance on sources such as the Internet and the news media for their medical information does not seem to damage their relationship with their doctors, Canadian physicians report.

"Patients are now more and more proactive--they trust their doctors, but still want to learn more,'' senior author Dr. Lillian L. Siu, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Toronto and an oncologist at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, told Reuters Health. "Physicians in a busy practice can't give them as much information as they would like to obtain.''

Siu, along with her colleague Dr. Xueyu Chen, conducted a survey of 410 Canadian oncologists and 191 cancer patients to measure whether using outside news sources impacts the doctor-patient relationship. Their findings are published in the December 1st issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

The researchers found that nearly 54% of the cancer patients said the medical information provided by their doctors was not sufficient and 71% said they searched for additional information on their disease elsewhere. Of those who searched for more information, 50% used the Internet. However, doctors were the primary source of information for 83% of patients, compared with just 7% for the Internet.

The physicians were more ambiguous about their patients' reliance on outside sources of medical information. Sixty percent thought the medical information provided by the media was accurate only "sometimes'' and nearly a quarter thought the information was "rarely'' accurate.

In addition, 90% of the oncologists thought it was difficult for their patients to correctly apply the information they read to their own personal medical condition. Still, 38% of the oncologists were supportive and 45% had neutral feelings about patients seeking outside information, with only 16% reporting feeling "mildly irritated.'' Overall, the survey found that 63% of the patients and 86% of the doctors did not feel seeking outside information negatively impacted their professional relationship.

"I was gratified to find the relationship between patients and doctor was not jeopardized,'' Siu said. "Both physicians and patients don't feel this information gathering is impeding their relationship, which is very important.''

Siu added"Cancer is obviously a serious problem that patients want to take initiative and learn more about their own illnesses. Physicians are aware of this phenomenon, we don't feel threatened by it. We feel it helps some patients to cope better.

"However, the time we have to answer the extra questions isn't always feasible. We know there's a need, and sometimes we don't fill that need as much as we would like. We need the cooperation of the media to make sure the information presented to patients is balanced and accurate.''