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Most cancer patients need rehabilitation treatments for sequelae left by treatments such as radiotherapy, chemotherapy and the most diverse surgeries. The professionals at the head of such processes do not always have the necessary expertise for a satisfactory rehabilitation from radiotherapy, due to the generalized and non-directed training they receive. Survivorship programs have facilitated access to more specialized professionals, but they are scarce in developing countries. We evaluated the viability of Survivorship programs for radiation oncology patients and their acceptance by health professionals involved in all stages of treatment in Brazil.

A questionnaire including relevance scores was carried out with patients who completed radiotherapy treatment in the last 2 years and with several professionals involved in rehabilitation from radiation therapy facilities all over the country.

For patients, data such as rehabilitation treatments that they had or are still doing, weekly frequency, degree of satisfaction with the results, geographic distance and knowledge about surviviorship programs were collected

For professionals, we acessed the number of cancer patients assisted, the professional's comfort in treating these patients, difficulties faced, specialization in oncology, perception and knowledge about surviviorship programs.

A Multivariate analysis was performed, completed with multivariate regression and Cox proportional hazard model.

Of the 199 patients who performed the survey, 93% did not know about any surviviorship program and 63.5% of these showed great interests in participating. The majority, 78%, needed to receive some treatment for rehabilitation in the first six months after radiotherapy and an important portion, 59%, still do it at least 2 times a week until the moment of the interview. As well, 72% rated the possibility of concentrating the most diverse services in the same physical location as very valid.

Of the 137 professionals who participated in the study, only 10% claimed to have some specialization in oncology. About the surviviorship program, 92% did not participate or had no knowledge, 3% had already been invited to join a program and 5% were actually already part of it. The vast majority, 97%, indicated an interest in joining a surviviorship program if invited.

There is a real demand from both patients and health professionals to increase the supply of surviviorship programs in a national scenario in a country of continental dimensions in Latin America such as Brazil, which may reflect on optimizing the quality of life of patients after radiotherapy, when receiving rehabilitation by subspecialized professionals and for professionals, an increase in the safety of the practice by allowing an exclusive dedication to both scientific and marketing.