Undergoing CAR T-Cell Therapy? Why Managing Overall Health Is Essential
Planning to undergo CAR T-cell therapy? Nurse practitioner Donna Catamero explains the importance of maintaining overall health before CAR T-cell therapy, staying organized during treatment, and how healthcare teams are improving the management and anticipation of side effects.
Donna Catamero is a Nurse Practitioner and associate director of the Multiple Myeloma Clinical Research Program at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. Learn more about Donna Catamero.
See More From Thrive CAR T-Cell Therapy
Related Resources:
CAR T-Cell Therapy | Key Considerations for Myeloma Patients |
Planning for CAR T-Cell Therapy | Advice for Myeloma Patients |
CAR T-Cell Therapy Support | Questions to Ask About the Process |
Transcript:
Katherine Banwell:
Wow, that’s great. Why is it so important for those undergoing CAR T-cell therapy to manage their overall health?
Donna Catamero:
So, the healthier you go into a treatment, the better you’re going to feel, and this includes your activity level, so, really maintaining activity, getting out there, walking, exercising, eating things in moderation, having a healthier diet, and I just think the better you feel going into therapy, the better you’re going to tolerate therapies.
Katherine Banwell:
Okay. Managing life before and after CAR T-cell therapy can be a really big undertaking. What tips do you have for staying organized at home, especially related to medication and follow-up appointments?
Donna Catamero:
So, CAR T therapy can be very intense up front. There’s a lot of appointments, a lot of things you need to do to prepare yourself to get ready to collect your T cells and to receive your T cells, and it’s a lot of appointments, a lot of scheduling, and treatments to gear up for that cell infusion. So, what we do for our patients is getting calendars for patients, diaries for patients, to really keep them organized. It is a lot up front, but then, after a patient receives their T cells, they are then more on a maintenance phase, and life will get easier. It’s just heavy up front.
Katherine Banwell:
Would you say that healthcare teams are getting better at managing and anticipating CAR T side effects?
Donna Catamero:
Absolutely. So, we have several years of experience now. We can anticipate the timing of certain side effects, we manage them very well, many institutions are now doing CAR T therapies as an outpatient, so we really have gotten a great handle on how to manage these side effects, when to anticipate these side effects. And then, even long-term monitoring and managing patients several months post the CAR T infusion, infection prevention, etc., we have done quite well and been successful with our patient outcomes.
