How can patients feel empowered when making the decision to undergo myeloma CAR T-cell therapy? Myeloma specialist Dr. Doris Hansen explains how patients and clinicians can work together, from discussing benefits and side effects to understanding what matters most to the patient.
Dr. Doris Hansen is an Assistant Member in the Department of Blood and Marrow Transplant and Cellular Immunotherapy at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, FL. Learn more about Dr. Hansen.
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Transcript
Katherine Banwell:
Choosing CAR T-cell therapy is an important decision. So, it’s essential to work with your healthcare team when making this choice. As a clinician, how do you define “shared decision-making,” and how does this elevate someone’s care?
Dr. Doris Hansen:
I think it’s very important when we discuss with our patients. Certainly, we’re here to provide the information to our patients regarding different medical treatments. For example, one of those I give are transplant or different immunotherapies, such as CAR T-cell therapies. But I think it’s important for us to discuss with our patients, “What are these therapies?” How efficacious they are. But in addition to that, “What are some side effects that these therapies might have that will impact their quality of life, the duration of their response, and also, their caregivers, their care partners, their family members, etc.?” And then, “What might be some alternatives to some of these treatments?”
So, I think being able to inform the patients, but ultimately, giving the information, and also letting the patients tell us, “What is important to our patients?”
How can we move forward with the best possible treatment that fulfills, their needs, or what they are looking most forward to in terms of improving outcomes?” So, I think it’s definitely a shared decision-making with our patient leading the way, and us supporting them in the background.