When facing a small cell lung cancer diagnosis, how can you access the best care for you? Dr. Tejas Patil, a lung cancer specialist and researcher, shares key questions to ask you healthcare team following a diagnosis and emphasizes the importance of trust in the patient-doctor relationship.
Dr. Tejas Patil is an Assistant Professor of Thoracic Oncology at the University of Colorado Cancer Center focused on targeted therapies and novel biomarkers in lung cancer. Learn more about Dr. Patil.
Transcript:
Jamie:
Dr. Patil, when a person is first diagnosed with small cell lung cancer, what sort of questions should they be asking their healthcare team?
Dr. Tejas Patil:
So small cell lung cancer accounts for about 25 percent of all cases of lung cancer, but it’s a very unique type of lung cancer, and it has a different treatment paradigm than traditional lung cancer. The kind of questions that patients would want to ask are first about the diagnosis, specifically what stage of small cell lung cancer they have, so is it limited stage or extensive stage?
And I’ll discuss what those mean. Where is the cancer located? Has it spread? And then asking the doctor to explain what the staging results are and what they mean. They should ask questions about the treatment plan, what are my treatment options, and what does the doctor recommend? What is the goal of treatment? How soon should treatment start? What are the potential side effects of treatment? And I think one important question that patients should always ask their providers are, are clinical trials available for me?
Jamie:
As a physician and a researcher, how do you empower patients and care partners to participate in their care and treatment decisions? Why is that so essential?
Dr. Tejas Patil:
It’s really important for patients to participate in their own clinical care because an informed patient really is a collaborator in their own cancer journey. I’m a big believer that patients need reliable sources of information regarding small cell lung cancer. With the current fractured state of the Internet and media, I’ve been increasingly concerned about where patients are getting their medical information, especially from algorithmically driven content such as social media.
In my opinion, this is not where you want to get key central information to make decisions for your own care. It’s also important that patients trust their doctor. I think trust is a very crucial ingredient to a therapeutic relationship. Patients who do trust their doctor, I think are often much better collaborators in their own care.
