Openness to discuss cancer: Not only a matter of medical communication

Though many studies have been made - sometimes even blaming - to optimize the communication between doctor-patient-caregiver in oncology, very little work is focused on the intra-familial aspects of the communication [1-5]. Clinical experience shows us how much communication between cancer patients and their loved ones can also be impacted by cancer: We will refer to this phenomenon as “Communicative Cancer”. In fact, as soon as the communication of the diagnosis is made, perverse effects can quickly occur due to at least two mechanisms: the defense mechanisms of the patient and his entourage and the significant deterioration of communication between the patient and his loved ones [6,7].