adenocarcinoma Archives

What Do Lung Cancer Patients Need to Know to Build a Treatment Plan

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Persistencia frente a la atención médica desdeñosa: El viaje de un paciente

Persistence in the Face of Dismissive Healthcare: One Patients’ Journey

What Are the Noted Disparities in Lung Cancer Screening and Access?

Transcript:

Mi nombre es Wanda y me diagnosticaron cáncer de pulmón de células no pequeñas cuando tenía poco más de 40 años. Soy una mujer negra y, como muchas otras, mi camino hacia el diagnóstico no fue sencillo. Mis síntomas empezaron sintiéndome fatigada y como si fuera a desmayarme. Mi intuición me dijo que algo iba mal y me hice pruebas para diagnosticar el problema. Me detectaron un nódulo en el pulmón, pero el médico no me dio importancia a pesar de que yo conocía bien mi salud y posibles problemas de salud.

Solicité un escáner para investigar más a fondo el nódulo pulmonar, pero mi médico desestimó mi preocupación y no quiso hacerme la prueba. Después de que me hicieran una tomografía por emisión de positrones (PET), el especialista pulmonar que la revisó desestimó mis preocupaciones y decidió hacerme otra en 6 meses. Durante los seis meses siguientes, mis síntomas siguieron empeorando: fatiga, pérdida de peso y sibilancias.Sabía que tenía cáncer de pulmón y me sentía atrapada porque tenía que esperar a la exploración de seguimiento.

Cuando por fin recibí el diagnóstico de adenocarcinoma, sentí una mezcla de alivio por tener razón y rabia porque mi cáncer había empeorado en los últimos 6 meses. Después de dos operaciones para extirparme los ganglios linfáticos y una parte del pulmón, estoy bien y me alegra compartir mi historia para ayudar a otras personas que puedan sentirse descartadas por sus médicos.

Algunas de las cosas que he aprendido en mi lucha contra el cáncer de pulmón son:

Infórmate y haz preguntas a tus médicos. Infórmese sobre las opciones de tratamiento disponibles y coméntelas con su médico. Los médicos esperan que los pacientes tengan preguntas.
Pregunte sobre las opciones de ensayos clínicos, si es necesario viajar y si habrá gastos que usted o alguien tendrá que cubrir en su nombre. Pregunte si existen programas que puedan ayudarle con los gastos no cubiertos.
Siempre es buena idea buscar una segunda opinión. Buscar una segunda opinión no es algo por lo que debas sentirte culpable, y tu vida o la de tu ser querido depende de un diagnóstico preciso.
Escuche a su intuición y a su cuerpo. Yo sabía que algo iba muy mal, pero mis médicos me ignoraron durante meses antes del diagnóstico.
Evite a los médicos negativos y no equipare una sentencia de muerte con un diagnóstico de cáncer. Que un miembro de tu equipo médico te diga que no te queda mucho tiempo de vida no significa que esté escrito en piedra.

Estas acciones fueron clave para seguir en mi camino hacia el empoderamiento.

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Persistence in the Face of Dismissive Healthcare: One Patient’s Journey

August 8, 2023/in LC Access and Affordability, LC Activated, LC Activated Vignettes, LC Newly Diagnosed, LC Programs, LC Videos AA, LC Videos ND, Lung Cancer /by Kara Rayburn

Persistence in the Face of Dismissive Healthcare: One Patient’s Journey from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Wanda was diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the prime of her life. She fiercely advocated for herself even after initially facing dismissive healthcare. Wanda shares the importance of “not equating a death sentence with a cancer diagnosis just because a member of your care team says you don’t have long to live.” She shares valuable lessons learned on her lung cancer journey and the importance of listening to your intuition and body.

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What Do Lung Cancer Patients Need to Know to Build a Treatment Plan

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Persistencia frente a la atención médica desdeñosa: El viaje de un paciente

What Are the Noted Disparities in Lung Cancer Screening and Access?

Transcript:

My name is Wanda, and I was diagnosed in my early 40s with non-small cell lung cancer. I’m a Black woman, and like many others, my path to diagnosis wasn’t straightforward.

My symptoms began with feeling fatigued and like I might faint. My intuition told me that something was wrong, and I had testing done to help diagnose what the issue might be. A nodule was found in my lung, but I felt dismissed by my doctor even though I was knowledgeable about my health and potential health issues. I requested a scan to further investigate the lung nodule, but my doctor dismissed my concerns and wouldn’t run the test. After I eventually received a PET scan of my lung, the pulmonary specialist who reviewed my scan dismissed my concerns and decided to do another scan in 6 months.

Over the next 6 months, my symptoms continued to worsen with more severe fatigue, weight loss, and wheezing. I knew that I had lung cancer and felt trapped that I had to wait for the follow-up scan. When I finally received my diagnosis of adenocarcinoma, I felt a mixture of relief that I was right and anger that my cancer had worsened over the last 6 months. After two surgeries to remove lymph nodes and a portion of my lung, I’m doing well and am happy to share my story to help others who may feel dismissed by their doctors.

Some of the things I’ve learned on my lung cancer journey include:

Educate yourself and ask your doctors questions. Learn about the available treatment options and discuss each one with your doctor. Doctors expect patients to have questions.
Ask about clinical trial options, whether travel is required, and if there will be expenses that you or someone will need to cover on your behalf. Ask if there are programs that can help you with uncovered expenses.
It’s always a good idea to seek a second opinion. Seeking a second opinion is nothing to feel guilty about, and you or your loved one’s life depends on an accurate diagnosis.
Listen to your intuition and body. I knew something was seriously wrong but was dismissed by my doctors for months before my diagnosis.
Avoid negative doctors and don’t equate a death sentence with a cancer diagnosis. Just because a member of your care team says you don’t have long to live doesn’t mean it’s written in stone.

These actions were key for staying on my path to empowerment.

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What Is Gastric Cancer?

June 14, 2023/in Gastric Cancer, Gastric Cancer Newly Diagnosed, Gastric Cancer Programs, Gastric Cancer Video ND, GC Insist Understanding, INSIST! Gastric Cancer /by Kara Rayburn

What Is Gastric Cancer? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Are gastric cancer and stomach cancer one and the same? Expert Dr. Matthew Strickland defines gastric cancer and provides an overview of subtypes.

Dr. Matthew Strickland is a medical oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. Learn more about Dr. Strickland.

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Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

I’d like to start with a basic definition. What is gastric cancer? Is it the same as stomach cancer?

Dr. Matthew Strickland:

So, I think that’s a great question. I think for most of us from the patient perspective, just the word “cancer” is very scary. It can instantly stimulate a variety of emotions that all hit at once. So, I’d be happy to try to break that down. At the fundamental level, a cancer cell is a cell that originated as a healthy, normal cell in the body. Then, due to acquired genetic mutations or other aberrations have decided to stop playing by the rules and start growing out of control.

So, if this happens in the stomach, which, of course, is an anatomic location, that could be considered a stomach cancer. But beyond that, there can be different subtypes. I would say the most common type is what we call adenocarcinoma.

This is the aggressive kind. This is what I see most of the time and treat. But there are other types of tumors that could originate in the stomach such as a neuroendocrine tumor or perhaps even a lymphoma. Sometimes, we see tumors that are called gastrointestinal stromal tumors. So, I just want to make the point that there are a variety of different cancers that can originate in the stomach. But most of the time, folks are thinking of adenocarcinoma.

Then, to also answer your question specifically, gastric cancer and stomach, they’re probably interchangeable terms. But, of course, it’s important to determine the subtype.

What Are the Noted Disparities in Lung Cancer Screening and Access?

April 21, 2023/in LC Activated, LC Activated Expert, LC Newly Diagnosed, LC Programs, LC Resources ND, LC Treatments and Clinical Trials, LC Videos TC, Lung Cancer, NSCLC Treatment and Clinical Trials /by Kara Rayburn

What Are the Noted Disparities in Lung Cancer Screening and Access? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What are some lung cancer disparities in the U.S.? Dr. Lecia Sequist shares insight about disparities in lung cancer screening and care, some causes of the disparities, and ways that advocacy groups are trying to decrease disparities.

Dr. Sequist is program director of Cancer Early Detection & Diagnostics at Massachusetts General Hospital and also The Landry Family Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

[ACT]IVATION TIP:

“…be sure to ask your doctor if genetic testing has been performed on your cancer, and if not, can it be performed? It’s not always the right answer, depends on the type of cancer that you have and the stage, but if you have adenocarcinoma and an advanced cancer, like stage III or stage IV, it is the standard to get genetic testing and that should be something that can be done.”

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Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

Thank you. Dr. Sequist, with cancer care, there are some noted disparities, particularly with access to screening and care. What are some of those disparities with lung cancer screening and care?

Dr. Lecia Sequist:

Lung cancer, unfortunately, there are a lot of disparities around the globe, but even if we focus on the U.S., there’s a lot of regional disparities as far as who’s getting cancer, who’s getting lung cancer, where the cancer treatment centers are located, where the screening is available. Lung cancer screening is really effective as far as finding cancer in the earliest stages. It’s not equally available across the country. Some of it has to do with there are certain states that expanded their Medicaid coverage as part of the medical care reform that happened about seven, eight years ago, and there are some states that didn’t expand the Medicaid, and then that situation translated into whether lung cancer screening was easy to get started in hospitals in that state. So there are some regions of the country, and a lot of them are in the South as well as the Western U.S., where if you want to get lung cancer screening, you may have to travel more than 30 miles or even more than 50 miles in order to get lung cancer screening.

There’s lots of activists and patient advocacy groups that are working to try and fix that problem so that anyone could have access to lung cancer screening within a reasonable distance of where they live, but there’s a lot of barriers. Similarly, there are barriers to getting genetic testing performed. We know that doing genetic testing on a lung cancer, it can be really helpful, especially if you have adenocarcinoma, the most common type of lung cancer, getting genetic testing done to see if there are targeted therapies that can be used to treat the cancer is a really important step in the diagnosis, but not all patients are having that done. And as you might imagine, there’s disparities, racial disparities in who’s getting these tests ordered and who is not having that testing done. And so it is important. My activation tip for patients would be to be sure to ask your doctor if genetic testing has been performed on your cancer, and if not, can it be performed? It’s not always the right answer, depends on the type of cancer that you have and the stage, but if you have adenocarcinoma and an advanced cancer, like stage III or stage IV, it is the standard to get genetic testing and that should be something that can be done.

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How Do You Break Down Lung Cancer Diagnosis to New Patients?

April 21, 2023/in LC Activated, LC Activated Expert, LC Newly Diagnosed, LC Programs, LC Resources ND, Lung Cancer /by Kara Rayburn

How Do You Break Down Lung Cancer Diagnosis to New Patients? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

How might a lung cancer diagnosis be explained to new patients? Expert Dr. Lecia Sequist from Massachusetts General Hospital shares how she breaks down the the tests involved in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) diagnosis and treatment, advice to patients, and best practices she’s learned in communicating information to patients.

Dr. Sequist is program director of Cancer Early Detection & Diagnostics at Massachusetts General Hospital and also The Landry Family Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

[ACT]IVATION TIP:

“We know that not all patients are offered genetic testing. And if you have a diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer, or especially the most common subtype of that called adenocarcinoma, genetic testing is most likely an important part of figuring out your treatment. So be sure to ask your doctor if that’s been done and if it hasn’t, should it be done.”

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What Are the Noted Disparities in Lung Cancer Screening and Access

Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

Dr. Sequist, you have a new patient coming into your office just diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer. How do you explain to that patient? I’m sure they’re wide-eyed and fearful and afraid. How do you explain to the layperson what that is and then the subsequent treatment that they might be experiencing in the coming months with a new diagnosis?

Dr. Lecia Sequist:

Yeah, this is a very confusing time for most patients because they’re trying to wrap their head around what’s going on. They’re usually being fed information at such a rate. It’s like drinking from a fire hose, and it’s hard to take it all in. On top of that, they may not be feeling well physically. So I think it is important to repeat things, to pause a lot, to ask if there are questions, and to give people an opportunity to get back in touch with you with questions later, because, of course, it’s happened to all of us. As soon as we walk out of the doctor’s office, that’s when the question pops into our brain. But non-small cell lung cancer, it’s a very common cancer. And it basically is a type of cancer that starts in the lung, but it can spread to other parts of the body.

And some of the most important pieces of information that your doctor will need to help figure out a treatment plan along with you is to get a biopsy to confirm that the diagnosis is what they think it is. And that is usually an invasive procedure where a small piece of the cancer is removed from the body so that you can look at it under the microscope, and they can confirm that it’s that type of lung cancer. And then probably a series of scans or radiology tests where they’re looking at different parts of the body, maybe with different lenses such as a CAT scan or a PET scan or an MRI. Those are just different types of radiology exams to see if the cancer might have spread to any of the different places.

And for lung cancer, we usually try to look head to toe, essentially look at the whole body and get a complete picture of what’s going on. And the third important thing that doctors will need to come up with a treatment plan is to do something called genetic testing. This can be confusing for people because we’re not looking at their family. We’re not looking for genes that could have come from their parents or have been passed on to their children. We’re really looking at the genes of the cancer. And together looking at the biopsy, the genes that are activated within the cancer, if any, and where the cancer might be in the body, that helps the doctors put together a treatment plan of how to attack the cancer.

Lisa Hatfield:

Great. Thank you. Do you have any tips specifically for patients when they’re first diagnosed?

Dr. Lecia Sequist:

Yeah. My activation tip for someone with newly diagnosed lung cancer would be to make sure that they’re asking their doctor if genetic testing should be done on their cancer. We know that not all patients are offered genetic testing. And if you have a diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer, or especially the most common subtype of that called adenocarcinoma, genetic testing is most likely an important part of figuring out your treatment. So be sure to ask your doctor if that’s been done and if it hasn’t, should it be done.

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Lung Cancer Clinical Trials 201 Resource Guide

March 30, 2023/in LC CT201, LC CT201 Guides, LC Newly Diagnosed, LC Programs, LC Treatments and Clinical Trials, LC Videos ND, LC Videos TC, Lung Cancer /by Kara Rayburn

PEN-175_CT201Lung_ResourceGuide_F

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Advances in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Testing

March 30, 2023/in INSIST! Lung Cancer, LC Insist Testing, LC Newly Diagnosed, LC Programs, LC Testing, LC Videos ND, LC Videos T, Lung Cancer /by Kara Rayburn

Advances in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Testing from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Lung cancer expert Dr. Grace Dy discusses the latest research in lung cancer testing, including liquid biopsies and minimal residual disease (MRD).

Dr. Grace Dy is Chief of Thoracic Oncology and Professor of Oncology in the Department of Medicine at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York. Learn more about Dr. Grace Dy.

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Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

As we know, researchers are still discovering new markers. Could you tell us about the latest news and research in biomarker testing for non-small cell lung cancer?

Dr. Grace Dy:

Oh, there is a lot going on. You know, sky’s the limit. But just an example: we have liquid biopsies that are in clinical use right now, typically in the stage IV setting.

But beyond that, we’re also having what we call minimal residual disease testing in what we call adjuvant situations. For example, patients who had surgery, there’s a big proportion of patients who still relapse.

So, finding out – and our scans are imperfect. They will not be able to detect micro metastatic clones or even a small cluster.

If you have a million cancer cells clustered somewhere, it will not show on the scan.

Katherine Banwell:

Each and every one of them.

Dr. Grace Dy:

Right. So, is there a better way? And so, that’s the question: can we detect it in the blood? So, these are assays that are being developed. Looking at different angles, not necessarily mutations, but maybe what we call epigenetic, meaning changes on top of the DNA that makes the DNA molecule be different in terms of whether some areas of the gene will be expressed or not.

And so, looking at these patterns because they’re different in cancers versus non-cancers. So, whether you can see it in the blood. So, it’s a ripe area.

There’s a lot of – so, there’s some overlap with early cancer detection and MRD, or minimal residual disease testing.

So, I think there’s an intense interest in developing these. But none are fully validated yet. There are trials that are going on, the studies that are ongoing to prove the utility and validity of these tests. So, we’re very excited. And obviously, AI everywhere. You have ChatGPT, right? So, you have AI being incorporated in diagnostics as well, in radiology, in pathology, to see: hey, maybe can we use AI technology to even maybe one day give us a mutation profile, right?

Katherine Banwell:

Yeah.

Dr. Grace Dy:

And that would be huge, right? But we’re not there yet.

What Biomarkers Affect Lung Cancer Care and Treatment?

March 30, 2023/in INSIST! Lung Cancer, LC Insist Treatment, LC Newly Diagnosed, LC Programs, LC Testing, LC Videos ND, LC Videos T, Lung Cancer /by Kara Rayburn

What Biomarkers Affect Lung Cancer Care and Treatment? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Lung cancer driver mutations can have an impact on therapy choices for patients. Dr. Grace Dy discusses the various lung cancer driver mutations and how treatment options may target specific markers.

Dr. Grace Dy is Chief of Thoracic Oncology and Professor of Oncology in the Department of Medicine at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York. Learn more about Dr. Grace Dy.

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Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

How does testing impact treatment and care?

Dr. Grace Dy:

So, back in like maybe more than two decades ago, I was still in school. The treatment paradigm is sort of like a one size fits all. You come in with a lung cancer diagnosis. Everybody gets treated the same.

But with advancements in technology and understanding of actually what we call lung cancer is really genetically very different from one patient to another. We are actually not even still able to tease out all the particular details, but there are some improvements that have been made along the way. And so, defining, for example, mutations in cancers, there are what we call driver mutations that have a matched targeted therapy.

In certain patients, actually the target therapy works so much better than chemotherapy, for example. And that’s why we have it in guidelines based on the results of clinical trials showing that in the appropriate setting, if you have a mutation that we discovered through molecular testing, and then you use the matched target therapy, survival is so much better compared to, for example, chemotherapy.

Same with immunotherapy. If we use a biomarker to test out which patients may actually respond well to immunotherapy alone – so, that’s a major treatment paradigm change within the less than 10 years wherein we define there’s a group of patients where that’s all they need. Non-chemo, just immunotherapy, and they will do well.

Katherine Banwell:

What are some of the mutations that are being targeted?

Dr. Grace Dy:

Right. So, it seems like every year, it’s growing. So, it started off with the poster child in lung cancer story of EGFR. So, we have EGFR mutations. Even EGFR mutations, they’re a subtype of mutations for – there are certain drugs that work better for certain mutations.

So, we have the classical EGFR mutations, the atypical EGFR mutations. But EGFR mutations as a group are probably the most characterized given the longevity of the research that has been done. But there’s a lot more.

So, for example, ALK, KRAS, BRAF, HER2, NTFK, NRG, RET, MET. Even those mutations, they’re all these new ones. It’s between the subtype of mutations. For example, we talked about EGFR. Same thing with MET. You have MET exon 14 skip mutations. But in the absence of MET skip mutations, there are also what we call MET gene amplification, MET protein over-expression that have matching therapies that may actually work better.

But we’re still kind of scratching the surface. There’s a whole lot more being characterized and developed. Case in point, just a little over a year ago, there’s an LTK Fusion that was described. Very rare. But there’s a target therapy for it. So, unless you test it, you won’t find a matching targeted therapy.

What Procedures Are in Place to Protect Lung Cancer Clinical Trial Participants?

March 30, 2023/in LC CT201, LC CT201 Safety, LC Newly Diagnosed, LC Programs, LC Treatments and Clinical Trials, LC Videos ND, LC Videos TC, Lung Cancer /by Kara Rayburn

What Procedures Are in Place to Protect Lung Cancer Clinical Trial Participants? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What safety measures are in place to protect people in lung cancer clinical trials? Dr. Grace Dy reviews protocols to help maintain clinical trial safety.

Dr. Grace Dy is Chief of Thoracic Oncology and Professor of Oncology in the Department of Medicine at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York. Learn more about Dr. Grace Dy.

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Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

What safety measures are in place to safeguard patients?

Dr. Grace Dy:

So, there’s a lot of safety measures involved. Not just within the protocol but there are also governing committees. IRB, Scientific Review committees, that look over – and these committees typically also, actually, involve some patient advocates that will be reviewing the protocols to make sure it’s not just a scientific aspect that is looked into but also patient perspectives that are looked into when we review these protocols.

So, from the medical perspective, protocols are generally written with guidelines to help treating doctors how to manage side effects. For example, because of the intense preparation – what we call pre-clinical, meaning the preparation done in animal models, in learning from other settings, for example; from other drugs, for example. If it’s not the first in class, you have a sense of what potential side-effects might be expected and so you prepare accordingly.

Lung Cancer Clinical Trials | Addressing Common Patient Concerns

March 30, 2023/in LC CT201, LC CT201 Safety, LC Newly Diagnosed, LC Programs, LC Treatments and Clinical Trials, LC Videos ND, LC Videos TC, Lung Cancer /by Kara Rayburn

Lung Cancer Clinical Trials | Addressing Common Patient Concerns from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Considering a lung cancer clinical trial can feel overwhelming and brings up a number of questions. Dr. Grace Dy reviews common concerns from patients, and explains how and when placebo may be used in trials.

Dr. Grace Dy is Chief of Thoracic Oncology and Professor of Oncology in the Department of Medicine at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York. Learn more about Dr. Grace Dy.

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Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

What are some common concerns you hear from patients when discussing lung cancer clinical trial options?

Dr. Grace Dy:

When I discuss clinical trials, the first question generally patients ask is: well, how effective is the drug, right? And the second question will be: well, what are the side effects? And those are very valid questions, but we may not always have an answer to it, especially if they’re in early phase. I do a lot of early phase clinical trials, meaning sometimes we don’t even know the proper dose of the drug to use, for example.

And the intent of the trial, for example, in Phase I, generally, is to find out what is a proper dose to use that is safe and effective before we can do a test in Phase II setting using the recommended dose to test it out more rigorously how well it works. And if it passes Phase II, then we go to Phase III, which then generally is comparing it with the standard to see whether it will be better or at least equivalent or non-inferior.

And you may ask, “Well, why even do a non-inferior?” Because, well, some drugs, it may not prolong your life more than current therapies, but if it has better side effect profile, right? So, there are actually drugs that are approved through non-inferiority trials. But those are the common concerns, and I think another common concern that I hear when I talk about trials, patients are concerned about receiving placebo.

Katherine Banwell:

And what do you tell patients?

Dr. Grace Dy:

Well, it depends on the design of the trial and the question that is being answered. So, in fact, for example, some situations in the standard of care is not to do anything. The best way to remove bias is to administer a placebo because the standard care would be not to do anything. And those, generally, are Phase III, you know. An early phase, Phase I, Phase II generally there are no placebo involved. I mean, there are some randomized Phase II trials that there are placebo involved and I explain to the patient why placebo may be involved and it’s usually on top of a standard of care. So, there could be a standard of care therapy but you add something else. So, you want to compare it with a new drug plus the standard of care. So, you might add placebo so that the doctors will not be bias when they measured their scans, for example. They say oh, this patient is getting this experimental drug. So, they’re excited. They might oh, you know, make it look better than what it actually is.

Katherine Banwell:

Now, as a researcher yourself, do you always know that a placebo is part of the clinical trial testing?

Dr. Grace Dy:

Yes, it will be in the design. So, it will say there is a placebo control. So, the title, or the design, generally will tell you this is a randomized, double-blind placebo control. Usually if there is a blinded there might be some placebo involved because then you don’t know what people are getting.

How Can You Access Personalized Medicine for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer?

January 5, 2023/in INSIST! Lung Cancer, LC Insist Treatment, LC Newly Diagnosed, LC Programs, LC Testing, LC Videos ND, LC Videos T, Lung Cancer /by Kara Rayburn

How Can You Access Personalized Medicine for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What is the right therapy for your non-small cell lung cancer? This animated video reviews treatment decision considerations, the importance of biomarker testing, and steps to engage in your non-small cell lung cancer care.

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Transcript:

No two people with lung cancer are the same, so finding the right treatment for each patient is critical.

While receiving a non-small cell lung cancer diagnosis and choosing a therapy can be overwhelming, advancements in research are providing more options and more hope than ever.

So, what should be considered when making a treatment decision? Physicians may consider factors such as:

A patient’s age, overall health and any pre-existing conditions they have.
As well as their type and stage of lung cancer.
And their test results, including biomarker testing.

Biomarker testing, also referred to as molecular testing, identifies key markers such as genes, proteins, or other molecules in a sample of tissue, blood, or other body fluid. Understanding the genetic makeup of the lung cancer helps your team better understand your disease and may influence treatment options – leading to more personalized care.

For example, if the PD-L1 receptor is detected during biomarker testing, the patient may benefit from immunotherapy. Additionally, identification of an ALK mutation or an EGFR mutation may indicate that a patient will respond to a targeted therapy.

So, how can you access personalized medicine? You can start by talking with your doctor about biomarker testing and ask if your cancer has been tested for all known biomarkers. Request to review the test results together and ask if there are any markers that affect your risk, prognosis, or treatment options.

Before you choose a therapy, weigh the pros and cons of each option with your doctor. Ask about side effects and if any of your existing health conditions may impact your therapy choice. You should also discuss your treatment choices with a care partner, such as a friend or loved one – someone you trust.

So, How Can You Take Action?

Ask your doctor if you have had, or will receive, all essential testing, including biomarker testing.
Seek a lung cancer specialist to guide your care. A second opinion consultation with a specialist can confirm your diagnosis and treatment approach.
Partner with your doctor to determine a personalized treatment approach for YOUR lung cancer.
Bring a friend or a loved one to your appointments to help you process and recall information.
And finally, always speak up and ask questions. Remember, you have a voice in YOUR lung cancer care.
To learn more about your non-small cell lung cancer and to access tools for self-advocacy, visit powerfulpatients.org/lungcancer.

Advice for Accessing Financial Resources for Lung Cancer Care

December 8, 2022/in LC Newly Diagnosed, LC Programs, LC Thrive, LC Thrive Collaborating, LC Videos ND, LC Videos WPS, LC Whole Patient Support, Lung Cancer /by Kara Rayburn

Advice for Accessing Financial Resources for Lung Cancer Care from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Is there financial assistance available for lung cancer patients? Lung cancer expert Dr. Jyoti Patel shares support resources and tips to help reduce the financial burden of treatment.

Jyoti Patel, MD, is Medical Director of Thoracic Oncology and Assistant Director for Clinical Research at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. She is also Associate Vice-Chair for Clinical Research and a Professor in the Division of Hematology and Oncology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Patel is a leader in thoracic oncology, focusing her efforts on the development and evaluation of novel molecular markers and therapeutics in patients battling non-small cell lung cancer. Learn more about Dr. Patel.

Advice for Managing Lung Cancer Symptoms and Treatment Side Effects

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Transcript:

Katherine:

Dr. Patel, we’d be remiss if we didn’t bring up financial concerns.

Treatment and regular appointments can become quite expensive. So, understanding that everyone’s situation is different, where can patients turn to if they need resources for financial support?

Dr. Patel:

When your team first talks to you about therapies, it’s important that they have transparency about what something may cost or the risks that you may incur by starting treatment. However, most of us have access to wonderful financial teams and financial counselors that can help you manage this.

Many of our industry partners and friends are able to have assistance programs to provide oral drugs at discounted rates or to work, again, with organizations in which you may be able to have reduced rates for many of your drugs. Most of the infusional drugs, again, should be covered by insurance. But outside of drug costs, there are a lot of other costs.

So, parking every time you come for a doctor’s appointment. Time off from work. Time that you’re hiring a babysitter to take care of your children when you’re at treatment. All of those add up. And so, again, perhaps talking to the social worker at your cancer center or talking to the financial counselor, there are often local programs that can help ease some of those burdens.

Tips for Managing Lung Cancer Anxiety and Worry

December 8, 2022/in LC Newly Diagnosed, LC Programs, LC Thrive, LC Thrive Collaborating, LC Videos ND, LC Videos WPS, LC Whole Patient Support, Lung Cancer /by Kara Rayburn

Tips for Managing Lung Cancer Anxiety and Worry from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Lung cancer expert Dr. Jyoti Patel shares support resources to help ease anxiety and explains how multidisciplinary care teams, including palliative care, can support patients and family members.

Jyoti Patel, MD, is Medical Director of Thoracic Oncology and Assistant Director for Clinical Research at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. She is also Associate Vice-Chair for Clinical Research and a Professor in the Division of Hematology and Oncology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Patel is a leader in thoracic oncology, focusing her efforts on the development and evaluation of novel molecular markers and therapeutics in patients battling non-small cell lung cancer. Learn more about Dr. Patel.

Advice for Managing Lung Cancer Symptoms and Treatment Side Effects

Related Resources:

Why Lung Cancer Patient Advocacy Is Essential

Collaborating on Lung Cancer Treatment Decisions With Your Team

Transcript:

Katherine:

Managing the worry associated with a diagnosis or concerns about progression can lead to anxiety and fear in some patients. So, why is it important for patients to share how they’re feeling with their healthcare team? And who all is in the healthcare team who would be able to help a patient?

Dr. Patel:

So, the anxiety of cancer therapies, of CT scans, of tumor assessments, can be overpowering. And then the longer-term anxieties. Who’s going to care for me, who’s going to care for my family, am I doing the things that are important to me, are ones that weigh heavily on all of us.

So, certainly, again, carrying these anxieties over a long time have adverse impacts. So, people who are more anxious may not sleep as well. They may lose weight. They may not be as robust. And so, all of those things weigh into our ability to give more treatment. So, we want people to be psychologically well. We have, generally now in our healthcare teams, a number of people who are there to help.

And so, we have nurse navigators. Most cancer centers have a number of psychologists and psychiatrists that work with our teams. But more than that, even things like nutritionists and social workers make a significant impact. And then I’m surely lucky to work with a world-class palliative care team.

So, these are doctors that really focus on symptoms of cancer, the toxicities of treatment. And we work together to ensure the best outcome for our patients.

Advice for Managing Lung Cancer Symptoms and Treatment Side Effects

December 8, 2022/in LC Newly Diagnosed, LC Programs, LC Thrive, LC Thrive Collaborating, LC Videos ND, LC Videos WPS, LC Whole Patient Support, Lung Cancer /by Kara Rayburn

Advice for Managing Lung Cancer Symptoms and Treatment Side Effects from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Lung cancer expert Dr. Jyoti Patel explains common symptoms and treatment side effects, and discusses how treatment approaches may vary depending on treatment goals for each patient.

Jyoti Patel, MD, is Medical Director of Thoracic Oncology and Assistant Director for Clinical Research at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. She is also Associate Vice-Chair for Clinical Research and a Professor in the Division of Hematology and Oncology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Patel is a leader in thoracic oncology, focusing her efforts on the development and evaluation of novel molecular markers and therapeutics in patients battling non-small cell lung cancer. Learn more about Dr. Patel.

Tips for Managing Lung Cancer Anxiety and Worry

Related Resources:

Personalized Medicine | Making Lung Cancer Treatment Decisions

Collaborating on Lung Cancer Treatment Decisions With Your Team

Transcript:

Katherine:

Symptoms and side effects can sometimes be a burden to patients undergoing treatment. What are the most common issues that patients face?

Dr. Patel:

So, common symptoms from treatment can include fatigue, lack of appetite, disinterest in the things that made you really excited before. Infrequently now we have severe nausea, because we have such good antinausea medications.

Sometimes we’ll have problems with blood counts or risks of infection. All of these vary by the treatment that’s rendered. And so, often it may be that you’re on a targeted therapy.

Some targeted therapies, for example, can cause swelling in your legs. Immunotherapies are generally well-tolerated but can cause significant side effects in a small minority of people that could include inflammation in the gut, for example.

So, everything is sort of tailored, I would say. Most frequently, I hear about the fatigue, and then the ongoing stressors of living with cancer. So, the financial toxicity certainly. These drugs are expensive. But not only that, often people have changed the way they work. Their family members have changed how they work to support their loved one. So, bringing people to appointments.

There’s a lot on someone’s plate. And that can contribute to fatigue and even some anxiety.

Katherine:

Yeah. What strategies are in place to manage symptoms and side effects?

Dr. Patel:

So, having a patient who’s knowledgeable about potential side effects and a good advocate for themselves is probably the best way to manage therapy. So, ongoing dialogue with your clinical team, with your nurse, with your physician, are absolutely important. But most of us work with teams of healthcare workers. And so, when I think about our clinic, we have financial counselors, we have social workers, we have dieticians and nutritionists, we work with physical therapists. And importantly, we work with a palliative care team that helps us, again, manage some of the toxicities of therapy.

We think that they provide a longitudinal assessment of patients and remember what’s most important to a patient over time. Whereas often in the moment there’s this, we want to make the tumor shrink. We think about what we can do immediately. It’s often really helpful to have another team that can provide support over the patient’s journey to help us, again, prioritize what they wanted to do the most.

Katherine:

Mm-hmm. Dr. Patel, why do you think it’s necessary for patients to tell their doctor about any issues they may be having? Even the little ones.

Dr. Patel:

I think most of us want to be good patients. And so, we minimize things because we think that, okay, we’re using precious time to talk about things that may seem minor. But, again, all of these add up.

Even minor symptoms, particularly in the era of immunotherapy, can turn out to be big problems. So, as I say now to my patients particularly on immunotherapy, if something seems a little bit off and you can’t put your finger on it, I just need to know so I can at least do the appropriate workup to make sure that we’re not missing anything. Because symptoms of underlying problems can be very misleading.

Moreover, I think the cumulative burden of cancer. So, again, we talked a little bit about the financial toxicity, the emotional cost, the time involved in treatment, all of that adds up. And you never want to get it to a breaking point. We want to manage it early on, so we can, again, make decisions together and keep wellness and the quality of survival at the forefront.

Personalized Medicine | Making Lung Cancer Treatment Decisions

December 8, 2022/in LC Newly Diagnosed, LC Programs, LC Thrive, LC Thrive Understanding, LC Videos ND, LC Videos WPS, LC Whole Patient Support, Lung Cancer /by Kara Rayburn

Personalized Medicine | Making Lung Cancer Treatment Decisions from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Lung cancer expert Dr. Jyoti Patel explains how biomarker testing is used to guide treatment decisions and personalize care plans for patients.

Jyoti Patel, MD, is Medical Director of Thoracic Oncology and Assistant Director for Clinical Research at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. She is also Associate Vice-Chair for Clinical Research and a Professor in the Division of Hematology and Oncology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Patel is a leader in thoracic oncology, focusing her efforts on the development and evaluation of novel molecular markers and therapeutics in patients battling non-small cell lung cancer. Learn more about Dr. Patel.