Personalized Treatment Approaches in Advanced Thyroid Cancer Management

/in , , , , , , , /by

Personalized Treatment Approaches in Advanced Thyroid Cancer Management from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

How can advanced thyroid cancer be managed in a personalized way? Expert Dr. Megan Haymart from the University of Michigan discusses personalized treatment approaches and patient advice for optimal care, shared decision-making, and support programs.

[ACT]IVATION TIP

“…if your disease has progressed and you’ve seen an endocrinologist and maybe they don’t routinely give these targeted treatments, make sure you’re referred to an appropriate person who does. Two, I would encourage individuals to make sure that they had tumor sequencing, which means they can look at the tumor and see what is the mutation.”

See More from [ACT]IVATED Thyroid Cancer

Related Resources:

Emerging Advancements in Thyroid Cancer Treatment

Emerging Advancements in Thyroid Cancer Treatment

 Addressing Socioeconomic Disparities in Thyroid Cancer Care

Addressing Socioeconomic Disparities in Thyroid Cancer Care

 Advancing Thyroid Cancer Care: Tailored Treatment and Patient Involvement

Advancing Thyroid Cancer Care: Tailored Treatment and Patient Involvement

Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

Dr. Haymart, can you discuss the role of personalized medicine in managing advanced thyroid cancer, particularly tailoring treatments based on individual patient characteristics?

Dr. Megan Haymart:

So advanced thyroid cancer, when I think of those words I’m specifically talking about patients who have distant metastasis that is progressing. So it’s not just that they have a small site of sort of cancer recurrence that’s sort of stable. This is disease that’s progressing. And the things that have really changed in the past five to 10 years is we have more targeted treatments for these individuals.

There have been more clinical trials that have been completed, and these trials have shown which patients might be appropriate candidates for these treatments. And so my activation tip for this question is if you have advanced thyroid cancer, if you have disease that’s progressing, it’s not treated with standard therapy.

One, make sure you see physicians who are capable of treating this disease. So even though I see 95 percent of all thyroid cancer patients, I’m an endocrinologist and I actually, I’m not the one who gives these targeted treatments to the 5 percent or less who have advanced disease, I would refer them to my medical oncology colleague. And so, if your disease has progressed and you’ve seen an endocrinologist and maybe they don’t routinely give these targeted treatments, make sure you’re referred to an appropriate person who does.

Two, I would encourage individuals to make sure that they had tumor sequencing, which means they can look at the tumor and see what is the mutation. And it’s possible that there’s either an already available drug or a clinical trial that’s targeted towards their specific tumor mutation.

Lisa Hatfield:

Dr. Haymart, how can patients engage in shared decision-making with their healthcare providers to determine the most appropriate treatment approach for their thyroid cancer? And what role do patient navigators or support programs play in improving outcomes for disadvantaged patients navigating the complexities of thyroid cancer treatments?

Dr. Megan Haymart:

So a key thing here for thyroid cancer  for 95 percent of patients is you have time on your side. So patients shouldn’t feel rushed to make a decision. So you have your clinic visit, you don’t need to make a decision on your treatment by the end of the visit. You can gather more information, so you can read more using reliable resources that your physician recommends. You can talk to your friends and family members. You can tell your healthcare provider, “You know, I appreciate the information that you gave me. I need more time to process this. I’ll be in touch with you.”

So patients don’t need to feel rushed during that decision-making process. It’s important that they know that for most of the time, for thyroid cancer, it’s preference sensitive decisions, meaning shared decision-making is totally appropriate. There’s no right or wrong answer in many of these scenarios.

And so the patients can really tailor it to them and what their priorities are. There’s been less data on patient navigators in the realm of thyroid cancer, but for other cancers, it’s been shown to be very useful and helpful, and patients have had positive responses to working with patient navigators. But if they aren’t available at your institution, don’t feel bad about bringing in a family member or a friend as an extra set of ears, and as someone that you can talk things over with later.

Advancing Thyroid Cancer Care: Tailored Treatment and Patient Involvement

/in , , , , , , , /by

Advancing Thyroid Cancer Care: Tailored Treatment and Patient Involvement from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What are some ways that thyroid cancer care is being advanced? Expert Dr. Megan Haymart from the University of Michigan discusses updates in thyroid cancer guidelines, shared decision-making, and actionable patient advice for personalized treatment.

[ACT]IVATION TIP

“…patients should carefully ask the risks and benefits of each of the treatment options, so they can make a pro/con list for themself and really tailor it to what’s a priority to them.”

See More from [ACT]IVATED Thyroid Cancer

Related Resources:

Emerging Advancements in Thyroid Cancer Treatment

Emerging Advancements in Thyroid Cancer Treatment

 Addressing Socioeconomic Disparities in Thyroid Cancer Care

Addressing Socioeconomic Disparities in Thyroid Cancer Care

 Personalized Treatment Approaches in Advanced Thyroid Cancer Management

Personalized Treatment Approaches in Advanced Thyroid Cancer Management

Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

Dr. Haymart, with your involvement in creating thyroid carcinoma guidelines and your research on optimizing cancer care delivery, what recent advancements or changes in thyroid cancer management do you find most promising for improving patient outcomes?

Dr. Megan Haymart:

So I think there are a lot of exciting changes that are coming. But the one that I’m the most excited about with the guidelines is the guidelines are going to emphasize tailored care more and shared decision-making more. And so I think these are key. And so for a lot of thyroid cancer management, there is not one right or wrong treatment option. It depends a little bit on the patient and what their preferences are.

And so for preference sensitive decision-making, there’s going to be a lot more emphasis on including the patient in that decision-making. There’s no right or wrong choice. The patient can think about what concerns them the most and then prioritize things based on that.

So, for example, total thyroidectomy, which means removing all of the thyroid versus lobectomy, which removes half the thyroid. For some patients with low-risk disease, either option is okay. The benefit of doing a lobectomy is there’s less surgical risk, so less risk of voice problems, less risk of low calcium. The disadvantage is that sometimes there’s more follow-up needed, maybe more ultrasounds needed. You don’t know by blood work necessarily that all the cancer’s gone. So you get more information by doing the total thyroidectomy but the total thyroidectomy has more surgical risk.

So, for example, if someone is a singer and they really don’t want their voice to be damaged and they’re not that worried about cancer coming back, lobectomy might be the choice for them. If someone has a lot of anxiety about wanting to know that absolutely everything is gone and the idea that they might need more ultrasounds makes them anxious, maybe total thyroidectomy would be a better option for them.

And so moving forward, I think there’s going to be this emphasis on personalized care, shared decision making and sort of tailoring the care to the patient. And so my activation tip for this question is that patients should carefully ask the risks and benefits of each of the treatment options, so they can make a pro/con list for themself and really tailor it to what’s a priority to them.

Lisa Hatfield:

Okay. Thank you. And one follow-up question I have to that as a cancer patient myself is, whether a patient and their doctor chooses a more or less aggressive treatment with their thyroid cancer, what does the follow-up look like? Are labs and imaging done forever for that patient to make sure there’s not a recurrence or is it just for a certain period of time?

Dr. Megan Haymart:

So this is a great question. About, I don’t know, 10 years ago everybody was getting almost the same treatment, right? So we’ve started to tailor it more and there’s far more people getting lobectomy now than they were 10, 20 years ago. Which is great. The disadvantages, we don’t have as much long-term data on these individuals.

And so it’s a little hard to be conclusive about when is the right time to stop follow-up. The longer we get out, the more data we’ll have on how long we need to follow these patients who had lobectomy, but I think that’s an excellent question. It’s just the fact that there’s been a shift in management and we haven’t had time to catch up to like, how should surveillance or long-term survivorship care change.

Emerging Advancements in Thyroid Cancer Treatment

/in , , , , , , , /by

Emerging Advancements in Thyroid Cancer Treatment from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What are the latest thyroid cancer treatment advancements? Expert Dr. Megan Haymart from the University of Michigan shares an overview of treatment updates along with proactive advice about actionable mutations for personalized thyroid cancer treatment.

[ACT]IVATION TIP

“…if you have high-risk advanced disease that’s progressing, I think it’s very important to ask your physician if they’ve done tumor sequencing to see if there’s any actionable mutations, because then you could have more targeted treatment.”

See More from [ACT]IVATED Thyroid Cancer

Related Resources:

Addressing Socioeconomic Disparities in Thyroid Cancer Care

Addressing Socioeconomic Disparities in Thyroid Cancer Care

 Advancing Thyroid Cancer Care: Tailored Treatment and Patient Involvement

Advancing Thyroid Cancer Care: Tailored Treatment and Patient Involvement

 Personalized Treatment Approaches in Advanced Thyroid Cancer Management

Personalized Treatment Approaches in Advanced Thyroid Cancer Management

Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

Dr. Haymart, new advancements in thyroid cancer treatment are emerging. What are some promising therapies on the horizon, and how might they benefit patients?

Dr. Megan Haymart:

So there’s a couple of exciting new treatment options that are available. So one is for high-risk patients who have advanced disease. So this will be a minority of all the patients I see. So it’s probably five to 10 percent that have high-risk advanced disease that’s progressing at most, probably closer to 5 percent. For these individuals, we now have targeted treatments where we can do molecular testing of the tumor, and try to identify the mutations and then give treatments that are targeted towards those mutations.

Not everybody needs this. So many of my patients do great with sort of the standard therapy of surgery, maybe surgery and radioactive iodine if they have papillary or follicular thyroid cancer, they had some lymph nodes involved, but there are some where they have distant metastasis, it’s aggressive, it appears to be growing. And so we do have new treatment options and there’s more and more trials and treatment options becoming available every day.

The other exciting thing that’s available now is there’s new treatment options for lymph node metastasis. So most of the time for lymph node metastasis, you’re going to have another surgery. You always want to see the surgeon first, but sometimes there’s patients who’ve had multiple neck surgeries. The surgeon can’t go back in, or it feels like it’s too high risk to go back in.

We now sometimes use percutaneous ethanol ablation. We’re starting to use radio frequency ablation to treat these isolated lymph node mets when surgery is no longer an option. And so I think that it’s exciting because we have opportunities for patients that we didn’t have in the past. And I think it’s just going to continue to improve in regards to use of these new therapies.

Lisa Hatfield:

Okay, thank you. And do you have any activation tips for that question?

Dr. Megan Haymart:

My activation tip for this question is specific to individuals with high-risk advanced disease that’s progressing, And so if you have high-risk advanced disease that’s progressing, I think it’s very important to ask your physician if they’ve done tumor sequencing to see if there’s any actionable mutations, because then you could have more targeted treatment. Some of these targeted treatments work better, some of them have lower side effects, and so it’s really an era of more tailored care, and this is an important question to ask.

Lisa Hatfield:

Dr. Haymart, how do genetic mutations and molecular markers influence treatment decisions in thyroid cancer and what personalized medicine approaches are being developed?

Dr. Megan Haymart:

So for patients with advanced disease, and it’s progressing, so they have distant metastasis, it’s growing. We can now test for mutations in the tumor to see if there’s any actionable mutations that patients can get targeted treatment. And so that wasn’t available in the past and it is now. And I think it’s really changed the way we take care of our advanced thyroid cancer patients. And my activation tip for this question is, if you have advanced progressing thyroid cancer, ask your doctor if your tumor has had sequencing to see if there’s an actionable mutation because there may be a targeted treatment that you’re a candidate for.

Understanding Thyroid Cancer Treatment Options and Follow-Up Care

/in , , , , , , , /by

Understanding Thyroid Cancer Treatment Options and Follow-Up Care from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What’s key for thyroid cancer patients to know about treatment options and follow-up care? Expert Dr. Megan Haymart from the University of Michigan shares her expert knowledge about various treatment paths and proactive patient advice to ensure optimal care.

[ACT]IVATION TIP

“…it would be important to ask how many surgeries have you done in the past year? Typically high volume is considered more than 25, very high volume, some of the physicians, some of the surgeons will do 100 a year. So that’s very important to ask this and ask them what is their complication rate? What are the complications that we might see?”

See More from [ACT]IVATED Thyroid Cancer

Related Resources:

Thyroid Cancer Explained: Types, Staging, and Patient Communication

Thyroid Cancer Explained: Types, Staging, and Patient Communication

 Overcoming Thyroid Cancer Care Barriers

Overcoming Thyroid Cancer Care Barriers

 Is There a Gender Disparity in Thyroid Cancer?

Is There a Gender Disparity in Thyroid Cancer?

Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

Dr. Haymart, can you explain the typical treatment journey for someone newly diagnosed with thyroid cancer and what can patients expect in terms of surgery, radioactive iodine therapy, and follow-up care?

Dr. Megan Haymart:

So patients typically have a biopsy and that’s how they find out they have thyroid cancer. Afterwards, they’re most often referred to surgery and so when they meet with the surgeon, the surgeon might talk about one, not doing the surgery, so just following it. But we don’t do that as often, but sometimes with small cancers and depending on what else is going on in a patient’s life at the time. Two, they might offer lobectomy. So the thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland in the neck. So they might talk about taking out half the thyroid, not the whole thyroid. Or they’ll talk about a total thyroidectomy, taking out the whole thyroid. They should talk about the risk and benefits of both of those.

After the surgical pathology is back if someone had a total thyroidectomy for papillary or follicular thyroid cancer, radioactive iodine is a treatment option. And again, it’s not recommended for everybody, but for some patients, the things within the pathology look higher risk. There might be lymph nodes involved or signs of invasion. Radioactive iodine is a treatment option.

And then long-term, most patients are followed with neck ultrasounds, with laboratory work. Sometimes if there’s more suspicion, they may have additional, a suspicion of recurrence, they may have additional imaging, but for the most part, it requires lab work and periodic neck ultrasound during follow-up.

And so when patients are sort of along this pathway, I think a couple of things are important to know. One, sometimes it doesn’t move super fast. So it’s pretty typical, like between diagnosis and meeting with the surgeon, it might be a month, and then surgery might be a month or so after that. Radioactive iodine might be a couple months after that. And so that first six months to a year can be very stressful for a patient. So I think that’s important to know.

And then two, I think it’s important to make sure that when you go along this process, you have physicians that you trust and that you can rely upon. So you can still talk with your PCP who you know quite well. You may now have an endocrinologist that you see, and this might be new for you. You may have a surgeon that you see, and this might be new for you. And so you want to ask them the questions that you have.

And my activation tip would be that you want to make sure that you have high volume and experienced specialists. So, for example for surgery, it would be important to ask how many surgeries have you done in the past year? Typically high volume is considered more than 25, very high volume, some of the physicians, some of the surgeons will do 100 a year. So that’s very important to ask this and ask them what is their complication rate? What are the complications that we might see?

And then similarly for the endocrinologist, you want to ask what proportion of your patient population are thyroid cancer patients? How comfortable are you following thyroid cancer patients long-term? And you may get varying answers. And so I think it’s important just to ask these questions so that you feel comfortable that you have experienced providers taking care of you.

Is There a Gender Disparity in Thyroid Cancer?

/in , , , , , , , /by

Is There a Gender Disparity in Thyroid Cancer? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Is there a thyroid cancer gender disparity? Expert Dr. Megan Haymart from the University of Michigan discusses the incidence rate of thyroid conditions and thyroid cancer in men versus women and proactive patient advice for those who feel dismissed or unsupported.

[ACT]IVATION TIP

“…if patients feel like they’re being dismissed, if they’re anxious, if they’re worried, if they’re stressed, if they feel like their questions aren’t being answered, you can always get a second opinion or see someone else.”

See More from [ACT]IVATED Thyroid Cancer

Related Resources:

Thyroid Cancer Explained: Types, Staging, and Patient Communication

Thyroid Cancer Explained: Types, Staging, and Patient Communication

 Overcoming Thyroid Cancer Care Barriers

Overcoming Thyroid Cancer Care Barriers

 Understanding Thyroid Cancer Treatment Options and Follow-Up Care

Understanding Thyroid Cancer Treatment Options and Follow-Up Care

Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

Dr. Haymart, how does the prevalence of thyroid cancer differ between men and women, and what factors contribute to this gender disparity?

Dr. Megan Haymart:

So about 70 to 75 percent of all thyroid cancer cases occur in women. And this is very similar to other endocrine diseases, especially other thyroid conditions. So hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, those are also more common in women. And so we think that the reason for this is probably multifactorial. So one, there’s probably something about thyroid conditions in a biologic level that differs between men and women.

We also think that there can be some screening bias, meaning that women are more likely to see doctors. They might be more likely to have neck ultrasounds. Some of these thyroid cancers that are picked up are really small and maybe shouldn’t have been picked up. And so I think it’s probably multifactorial.

Something that my patients sometimes tell me and I totally believe them, and I just want everyone to be aware because it’s a lot of females and it’s also very commonly young females. So thyroid cancer is the most common cancer in individuals aged 15 to 33. The median age of thyroid cancer patients is about 50. Sometimes patients feel that their worry and concern about their cancer is dismissed and so I want them to know that they’re not alone.

You know it’s very stressful especially for younger patients who are at a transition point in their life, related to college, related to starting new jobs, related to starting a family, all their friends are healthy and they get a cancer diagnosis, it can be very stressful and overwhelming. And so if you’re worried, if you’re stressed, that’s normal. Patients shouldn’t feel bad about that. No one should make them feel bad about it.

So even though most patients are going to do great with this cancer, it is still a cancer diagnosis. It does still impact patients’ lives and that word cancer can be very stressful. So I just don’t want patients to feel alone if they feel like they’re being dismissed or people don’t realize how stressful that diagnosis could be.

So my activation tip for this is if patients feel like they’re being dismissed, if they’re anxious, if they’re worried, if they’re stressed, if they feel like their questions aren’t being answered, you can always get a second opinion or see someone else. So that’s one thing. And my other activation tip for this is that if they feel like they’re not getting the answers or the support from their physician, there are other online resources that are available that can also help with worry and stress related to a cancer diagnosis.

Overcoming Thyroid Cancer Care Barriers

/in , , , , , , , /by

Overcoming Thyroid Cancer Care Barriers from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What are some thyroid cancer barriers to care and treatment? Expert Dr. Megan Haymart from the University of Michigan discusses obstacles that disadvantaged patients may encounter and  proactive patient advice to help ensure their best care. 

[ACT]IVATION TIP

“…ask your surgeon, how many operations have you done within the past year? High volume surgeons typically do 25 or more. And so I think that’s really important because you’re going to have a lower risk of complications. And so I would encourage all patients to speak up and to make sure they ask these questions.”

See More from [ACT]IVATED Thyroid Cancer

Related Resources:

Thyroid Cancer Explained: Types, Staging, and Patient Communication

Thyroid Cancer Explained: Types, Staging, and Patient Communication

 Is There a Gender Disparity in Thyroid Cancer?

Is There a Gender Disparity in Thyroid Cancer?

 Understanding Thyroid Cancer Treatment Options and Follow-Up Care

Understanding Thyroid Cancer Treatment Options and Follow-Up Care

Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

Dr. Haymart, what are the current barriers that disadvantaged patient populations face in receiving a timely diagnosis and, even more important, treatment of their thyroid cancer?

Dr. Megan Haymart:

So there are disparities in the care of thyroid cancer patients from diagnosis to treatment and even survivorship. For diagnosis, we know that there are certain groups that are at higher risk for presenting with advanced stage disease, so especially minority populations, Black and Hispanic. We don’t know why that is. We don’t fully know why that is at least, but my activation tip for diagnosis would be that if you feel a lump in your neck that doesn’t go away after a few weeks, especially lower in your neck, talk to your doctor.

We also see disparities in treatment. And I think we know a little bit more about why those occur. So there’s been recent data by Dr. Chen, who works with my group, who found that when patients call to get into the clinic, if they don’t speak English as their primary language, if they speak Spanish or Mandarin, they may have difficulty getting into the clinic for a visit. And so we think there are language barriers that occur.

We also know that there’s differences in treatment based on what doctors patients are seeing. So if patients are seeing low volume surgeons who don’t do a lot of operations, they may not get the best treatment for them, which could lead to downstream consequences, including increased risk of recurrence or complications from the surgery itself.

And so my activation tip for this question is that if English is not your primary language and if you run into obstacles scheduling an appointment, if you have any family members or friends that speak English that you can pull in to help you, I think that’d be important. Hopefully, eventually the system will be better where that’s no longer an obstacle, but for now I think that’s important to know.

And then my other activation tip for this question is, you want to make sure you know who your surgeon is in regards to if they’re a high or low volume surgeon. That’s extremely tricky to know, even for me as a physician. I know thyroid cancer because I do thyroid cancer, but if you asked me about GI cancer, I wouldn’t know. And so you have to ask your surgeon, how many operations have you done within the past year? High volume surgeons typically do 25 or more. And so I think that’s really important because you’re going to have a lower risk of complications. And so I would encourage all patients to speak up and to make sure they ask these questions.

Lisa Hatfield:

Okay, thank you. Would it be appropriate for a patient to ask specifically how many of those surgeries that physician has done every year?

Dr. Megan Haymart:

Yeah, it’s totally appropriate to ask because you can’t find that information on the web. So unless you have a doctor colleague or a friend who knows thyroid well, and knows who those high volume surgeons are, they might be able to identify them. But otherwise, if you’re just referred to your local surgeon, I think it’s very appropriate to ask them, how many surgeries have you done in the past year? What are some of the complications that might happen? How often do you see that in your patient setting? I think those would be very appropriate questions.

Thyroid Cancer Explained: Types, Staging, and Patient Communication

/in , , , , , /by

Thyroid Cancer Explained: Types, Staging, and Patient Communication from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What’s vital for thyroid cancer patients to know about thyroid cancer types, staging, and patient communication? Expert Dr. Megan Haymart from the University of Michigan discusses different thyroid cancer types, how she approaches her patients with information, and proactive patient advice for optimal care.

[ACT]IVATION TIP

“…I recommend that patients know what type of thyroid cancer they have and the characteristics of it, including size and if there’s any high-risk features. And the reason I recommend this is because there’s a lot of information on the web, and sometimes you can be reading about a different type of thyroid cancer than what you had, and that might create a lot of worry and anxiety. And so I think the more you know that’s specific to your type of thyroid cancer, the more helpful it is for you.”

See More from [ACT]IVATED Thyroid Cancer

Related Resources:

Overcoming Thyroid Cancer Care Barriers

Overcoming Thyroid Cancer Care Barriers

 Is There a Gender Disparity in Thyroid Cancer?

Is There a Gender Disparity in Thyroid Cancer?

 Understanding Thyroid Cancer Treatment Options and Follow-Up Care

Understanding Thyroid Cancer Treatment Options and Follow-Up Care

Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

Dr. Haymart, can you please explain what thyroid cancer is, including its types, staging, and how you typically describe it to your patients and their families to help them understand?

Dr. Megan Haymart:

Yes, so the thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland in the lower neck, and on half the population thyroid nodules, which are lumps in the thyroid, about 5 percent of those are thyroid cancer, which means the cells are abnormal in those nodules. The most common type of thyroid cancer we see is papillary thyroid cancer. So out of every 10 patients I see, probably eight or nine will have papillary thyroid cancer, but we can also see follicular thyroid cancer and Hurthle cell cancer, in addition to medullary thyroid cancer, and then rarely anaplastic thyroid cancer.

So papillary and follicular thyroid cancer and a little bit of Hurthle cell cancer are treated very similarly. Medullary thyroid cancer comes from a different type of cells and has a little bit of a different treatment. And then anaplastic thyroid cancer, which is very rare, is very aggressive and also requires a little bit different type of treatment.

And so for my patients, what I try to talk about is what type of thyroid cancer they have and then what their pathology showed. So did it have any high-risk features? What was the size? And then we talk about how this affects the stage, and stage is standardly used to predict risk of death. For most of my patients, fortunately, risk of death is very, very low. So we also talk about risk of recurrence, which is the cancer coming back. And again, we use the pathology to help us talk about this in more depth.

And my or this question is I recommend that patients know what type of thyroid cancer they have and the characteristics of it, including size and if there’s any high-risk features. And the reason I recommend this is because there’s a lot of information on the web, and sometimes you can be reading about a different type of thyroid cancer than what you had, and that might create a lot of worry and anxiety. And so I think the more you know that’s specific to your type of thyroid cancer, the more helpful it is for you.

What You Need to Know Before Choosing a Cancer Treatment

/in , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , /by

What You Need to Know Before Choosing a Cancer Treatment from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Download Guide

Haga clic aquí para ver en español

What steps could help you and your doctor decide on the best treatment path for your specific cancer? This animated video explains how identification of unique features of a specific cancer through biomarker testing could impact prognosis, treatment decisions and enable patients to get the best, most personalized cancer care.

If you are viewing this from outside of the US, please be aware that availability of personalized care and therapy may differ in each country. Please consult with your local healthcare provider for more information.

Related Programs:

 

PEN-Powered Activity Guides

Digitally Empowered™

TRANSCRIPT:

Dr. Jones:

Hi! I’m Dr. Jones and I’m an oncologist and researcher. I specialize in the care and treatment of patients with cancer. 

Today we’re going to talk about the steps to accessing personalized care and the best therapy for YOUR specific cancer. And that begins with something called biomarker testing.

Before we start, I want to remind you that this video is intended to help educate cancer patients and their loved ones and shouldn’t be a replacement for advice from your doctor.

Let’s start with the basics–just like no two fingerprints are exactly alike, no two patients’ cancers are exactly the same. For instance, let’s meet Louis and another patient of mine, Ben. They both have the same type of cancer and were diagnosed around the same time–but when looked at up close, their cancers look very different.  And, therefore, should be treated differently.

We can look more closely at the cancer type using biomarker testing, which checks for specific gene mutations, proteins, chromosomal abnormalities and/or other molecular changes that are unique to an individual’s disease.

Sometimes called molecular testing or genomic testing, biomarker testing can be administered in a number of ways, such as via a blood test or biopsy. The way testing is administered will depend on YOUR specific situation.

The results could help your healthcare team understand how your cancer may behave and to help plan treatment. And, it may indicate whether targeted therapy might be right for you. When deciding whether biomarker testing is necessary, your doctor will also take into consideration the stage of your cancer at diagnosis.

Louis:

Right! My biomarker testing results showed that I had a specific gene mutation and that my cancer may respond well to targeted therapy.

Dr. Jones, Can you explain how targeted therapy is different than chemo?

Dr. Jones:

Great question! Over the past several years, research has advanced quickly in developing targeted therapies, which has led to more effective options and better outcomes for patients.

Chemotherapy is still an important tool for cancer treatment, and it works by affecting a cancer cell’s ability to divide and grow. And, since cancer cells typically grow faster than normal cells, chemotherapy is more likely to kill cancer cells.

Targeted therapy, on the other hand, works by blocking specific mutations and preventing cancer cells from growing and dividing.

These newer therapies are currently being used to treat many blood cancers as well as solid tumor cancers.  As you consider treatments, it’s important to have all of the information about your diagnosis, including biomarker testing results, so that you can discuss your treatment options and goals WITH your healthcare team.

Louis:

Exactly–Dr. Jones made me feel that I had a voice in my treatment decision. We discussed things like potential side effects, what the course of treatment looks like and how it may affect my lifestyle.

When meeting with your healthcare team, insist that all of your questions are answered. Remember, this is YOUR life and it’s important that you feel comfortable and included when making care decisions. 

Dr. Jones:

And, if you don’t feel your voice is being heard, it may be time to consider a second—or third—opinion from a doctor who specializes in the type of cancer you have. 

So how can you use this information to access personalized treatment?

First, remember, no two cancers are the same. What might be right for someone else’s cancer may not work for you.

Next! Be sure to ask if biomarker testing is appropriate for your diagnosis. Then, discuss all test results with your provider before making a treatment decision. And ask whether testing will need to be repeated over time to identify additional biomarkers.

Your treatment choice should be a shared decision with your healthcare team. Discuss what your options and treatment goals are with your doctor.

And, last, but not least, it’s important to inquire about whether a targeted therapy, or a clinical trial, might be appropriate for you. Clinical trials may provide access to promising new treatments.

Louis:

All great points, Dr. Jones! We hope you can put this information to work for you. Visit powerfulpatients.org to learn more tips for advocating for yourself.

Dr. Jones:

Thanks for joining us today. 

This program is supported by Blueprint Medicines, and through generous donations from people like you.