Tag Archive for: Cleveland Clinic

Colon Cancer Treatment and Research News

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

Colon Cancer Treatment and Research News from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What’s the latest colon cancer treatment and research news from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting? Dr. Smitha Krishnamurthi shares updates about research findings that were presented at the meeting along with exciting ongoing research in colon cancer.

Dr. Smitha Krishnamurthi is a gastrointestinal medical oncologist at the Cleveland Clinic. Learn more about Dr. Krishnamurthi here.

See More From The Pro-Active Colon Cancer Patient Toolkit

Related Resources:

Should Your Family Members Be Screened for Colon Cancer?

Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

Welcome, Dr. Krishnamurthi. Would you mind Would you mind introducing yourself?  

Dr. Krishnamurthi:

Sure, it’s my pleasure. Thank you for having me, Katherine. I’m Smitha Krishnamurthi. I’m a medical oncologist. I specialize in taking care of patients who have colorectal cancer and other gastrointestinal cancers. As a medical oncologist, I treat patients with drug therapy like chemotherapy and immunotherapy.  

Katherine Banwell:

And where are you located?  

Dr. Krishnamurthi: I work at Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Katherine Banwell:

Excellent. Thank you so much.  

Cancer researchers came together recently to share findings at the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting, also known as ASCO. Are there highlights from the meeting that patients should know about?  

Dr. Krishnamurthi:

Yes. That’s always such an amazing gathering of knowledge. Thankfully, it’s continued virtually at least due to the pandemic. This past ASCO last month, some of the major highlights in colorectal cancer were the final overall survival results were presented from the study of pembrolizumab versus chemotherapy as first-line treatment for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer with deficient mismatch repair or MSI high status.  

These are the patients who are predicted to benefit from immunotherapy.  

We’d already seen earlier results that the patients who received the immunotherapy up front had a much-improved time for the cancer to regress. Here, they presented the overall survival results, which showed that the median survival for patients who received chemotherapy was three years, meaning half the patients lived shorter time, half lived longer. For the patients who received the pembrolizumab, they hadn’t even reached the median survival at five years.  

So, it looks very important that we know this MSI status or mismatch repair status from the beginning, so that we can offer the right patients immunotherapy first.  

Other highlights were, for example, for patients who have cancers that overexpress HER2/neu. It’s an oncogene. When it’s overexpressed, it tends to drive growth of cancers.  

 We don’t have any FDA-approved drugs for HER2-amplified colorectal cancer, but there are many studies showing that those patients with that type of cancer benefit from targeting this HER2 protein. There are, of course, approved drugs for HER2/neu-amplified breast cancer and stomach cancer. One of these drugs is trastuzumab deruxtecan.   

It’s a drug that targets the HER2/neu protein, but it’s connected with chemo. So, it’s like bringing chemo right to the tumor. The results showed a very high response rate. But it does have a peculiar toxicity of causing inflammation in the lung. So, it’s another treatment option that could be approved. It’s good to see that we’re getting more treatment options there. 

Katherine Banwell:

What are you excited about when it comes to colon cancer research? 

Dr. Krishnamurthi:

There are so many important questions we still need to learn the answers to. I find that patients who have, of course, a mutation of the KRAS or NRAS gene and have metastatic cancer, they have fewer treatment options than when those genes are normal. 

KRAS is a very important oncogene driver of cancer in colorectal cancer, but also in lung cancer and pancreatic cancer. For many decades, it was thought that there was no way to target this protein. Now, we’re seeing that there’s a certain type of KRAS mutation – KRAS G12C – that can be targeted with drugs that now are approved in lung cancer. 

It’s a small fraction of colorectal cancer patients who have that mutation, but it’s like we’re beginning to crack this code. The most common KRAS mutation is G12D. There is a company – Mirati – that has a candidate G12D inhibitor that’s going to enter clinical trials this year. It’s very exciting.   

There was recently a press release onvansertib, which is a polo-like kinase inhibitor, combined with chemotherapy, a second-line treatment for patients with KRAS-mutant colon cancer, showing a much higher response rate than we would expect with the chemotherapy alone.  

That will need to be validated in a large, randomized trial, but that’s looking very exciting. Then the other aspects that I’m most excited about are how to get immunotherapy to work for more of our patients.   

We know that patients who have abnormal mismatch repair or MSI-high cancers can benefit remarkably in the metastatic setting and there are studies going on in the early-stage setting and there are reports of it looking quite promising. But how do we get it to work for the majority of patients who have normal DNA mismatch repair or MSS, microsatellite stable cancers? That’s an area of great interest.  

We’ve seen a study in the Netherlands where they treated patients with normal DNA mismatch repair, early-stage colon cancer, with just two doses of immunotherapy before going to surgery for their early-stage cancer. I was surprised to see like four out of 15 patients responded to the treatment. Perhaps earlier stage cancers may be more responsive to immunotherapy. Definitely looking forward to more updates from that study, which we’ll probably hear in the fall at the European Society of Medical Oncology meeting in fall of 2021. 

Then, of course, the other area that really interests me is what is causing this epidemic of colorectal cancer in young adults? This is really a matter of laboratory studies and epidemiologic studies, but that’s also an area of great interest.  

Katherin Banwell:

There’s an epidemic among younger people?  

Dr. Krishnamurthi:

Yeah. I think of it as an epidemic in that colorectal cancer has definitely been increasing in young Americans and young people around the world in many countries.  

Basically, clearly, there’s been an increase since the 1980s. It seems to be something environmental because it’s related to time. So, it’s not inherited. Some of our patients below the age of 50 diagnosed with colorectal cancer do not have an inherited cause. A study from Ohio State found that 16 percent have an inherited cause. So, 84 percent of them do not. This is definitely increasing, particularly of rectal cancer. I think it must be something environmental. Possibly something like we’re ingesting because our colon is exposed to what we eat. But we really don’t know yet.  

And so, I just advise all my patients and everyone who is interested to just try to eat as much natural food as we can. To try to minimize processed foods and chemicals. 

Because I think that’s the best we can do until we really identify the cause.  

Should Your Family Members Be Screened for Colon Cancer?

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

Should Your Family Members Be Screened for Colon Cancer? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

When should members of your family get colon cancer screening? Dr. Smitha Krishnamurthi from Cleveland Clinic shares screening guidelines for family members and discusses the necessity of genetic counseling.

Dr. Smitha Krishnamurthi is a gastrointestinal medical oncologist at the Cleveland Clinic. Learn more about Dr. Krishnamurthi here.

See More From The Pro-Active Colon Cancer Patient Toolkit

Related Resources:

How Is Colon Cancer Treated?

Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

If you’ve been diagnosed with colon cancer, what is the guidance for screening family members, such as children and siblings?

Dr. Krishnamurthi:

Yes, this is an excellent question. We tell all our patients who have been diagnosed with colorectal cancer that their first-degree relatives should start screening by age 40, but also 10 years younger than the youngest affected member of the family. So, whichever is younger.

If my patient is 45, definitely that person needs to have genetic counseling because they’re young for colorectal cancer. Then we’d recommend at least start by age 35 for their children or siblings, even if no inherited cause is found.

Katherine Banwell:

Okay, all right.

How Speaking Up Can Positively Impact Your Colon Cancer Care

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

How Speaking Up Can Positively Impact Your Colon Cancer Care from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Why should you advocate for the best care for you? Dr. Smitha Krishnamurthi, a colon cancer specialist from Cleveland Clinic, provides key advice to access better care, including the value of second opinions, and why you should feel empowered to speak up.

Dr. Smitha Krishnamurthi is a gastrointestinal medical oncologist at the Cleveland Clinic. Learn more about Dr. Krishnamurthi here.

See More From The Pro-Active Colon Cancer Patient Toolkit

Related Resources:

Should Your Family Members Be Screened for Colon Cancer?

Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

What is your advice to patients who may feel like they’re hurting feelings by seeking a specialist or even a second opinion?

Dr. Krishnamurthi:

I would advise patients to not worry about that at all. I think that any one of us diagnosed with colorectal cancer would want a second opinion, would want to make sure that we’re getting an opinion from a high-volume cancer. Working here are Cleveland Clinic, I have the luxury of focusing on treatment of gastrointestinal cancers, whereas my colleagues who are in the community are treating patients with all different types of cancers. They have to be knowledgeable in all different types of cancers.

I think that’s actually much harder. I think that if your oncologist is not a specialist, the oncologist may actually appreciate having an opinion from a specialist, which helps them as well.

I think that if the doctor is going to be offended, then that’s probably not the right doctor to see. I think it’s important to just advocate for oneself and go for it.

Katherine Banwell:

That leads to my next question. What advice do you have about self-advocacy, about speaking up for yourself as a patient?

Dr. Krishnamurthi:

I think that’s very important to feel comfortable with your treatment team, with the doctor, nurse, nurse practitioner. If you have the luxury where you have choices where you live, seek out somebody who you can really connect with. I think it’s very important for the treating team to know what the patient is going through.

We have to know how the treatment is going so that we’re dosing properly, making adjustments. We want to know what our patient’s goals are so that we’re providing the best quality care.

I think it’s helpful to bring somebody to appointments. Or if you can’t bring somebody, you’ll call them on the phone. We’re doing that a lot now. People are joining by video call or even speaker phone. Many offices will have a speakerphone. You can ask to have somebody called on your behalf. Especially with COVID and the restricted visitation. Let’s get people on the phone. Somebody else to listen for you. For the patient, I mean, and to take notes. That really helps

Newly Diagnosed With Colon Cancer? Key Advice From an Expert

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

Newly Diagnosed With Colon Cancer? Key Advice From an Expert from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Dr. Smitha Krishnamurthi, a colon cancer specialist from Cleveland Clinic, shares steps to take following diagnosis to ensure patients are receiving optimal care.

Dr. Smitha Krishnamurthi is a gastrointestinal medical oncologist at the Cleveland Clinic. Learn more about Dr. Krishnamurthi here.

See More From The Pro-Active Colon Cancer Patient Toolkit

Related Resources:

Your Colon Cancer Care Colon Cancer Toolkit: Office Visit Planner

Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

What three key pieces of advice would you have for a patient who has just been diagnosed with colon cancer?

Dr. Krishnamurthi:

Okay. Yes, when somebody received a diagnosis of colon cancer, of course it’s a very serious diagnosis. I would always encourage patients to seek out expert care. Meaning see a person who specializes in treatment of colorectal cancer. So, a colorectal surgeon and a colorectal medical oncologist. I am a medical oncologist who specializes in treatment of patients with gastrointestinal cancer.

These sorts of specialists are typically found at high-volume cancer centers. Look for National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers. That designation implies very high quality of care and that there’s a lot of basic science research, clinical research, and what we call translational research. Like trying to bring lab discoveries to the bedside. I would encourage that for everybody. Of course, not everyone lives near such a center, but what we’ve learned through the pandemic is that we can use telemedicine far more than we ever did before.

We do a lot of virtual visits with patients who may live many hours away. I think it’s important, even if you have one visit for a second opinion, a treatment plan, that you could then receive that treatment with the local oncologist. I think that’s very helpful, and I would encourage everyone to seek out an expert opinion.

Also, I think it’s very important to seek out as much support, because this is a major diagnosis and a lot to go through. There is a lot of support out there that people may not be aware of besides, of course, family and friends. There are excellent patient advocacy groups and groups like your organization, trying to bring information to patients. Patients can ask their doctor or nurse about what’s local in terms of support groups, but there are also large internet presences by patient advocacy organizations. They are giving people high-quality, evidenced-based recommendations, advice.

People get to learn from other peers who have gone through treatment. I can’t name them all, but just for example, like the Colon Town and Colorectal Cancer Alliance. I believe just launching today is My Bluem, B-L-U-E-M.org.

I happen to be executive board member of that, so full disclosure. But it’s an organization created by colorectal cancer survivors for patients to come to one website to access information about all of these different organizations. There is a huge community out there for people who are diagnosed with colorectal cancer. The third piece of advice, I would just say when you’re looking for information, make sure it’s from a reliable source like these patient advocacy organizations. I tend to look myself for websites that end in .org, .gov, .edu, and also .net.

Our American Society of Clinical Oncologists organization is ASCO.net, where you can get great advice about cancers. Cancer.gov, cancer.org. Because the internet is full of suggestions which may not be based in good science.

It’s important to have a good source.

Katherine Banwell:

Good advice. Thank you for that.

What Should Be Considered When Choosing a Colon Cancer Treatment Approach?

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

What Should Be Considered When Choosing a Colon Cancer Treatment Approach? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Dr. Smitha Krishnamurthi, a colon cancer specialist from Cleveland Clinic, reviews considerations when choosing therapy, including staging and test results, as well as how clinical trials fit into treatment planning.

Dr. Smitha Krishnamurthi is a gastrointestinal medical oncologist at the Cleveland Clinic. Learn more about Dr. Krishnamurthi here.

See More From The Pro-Active Colon Cancer Patient Toolkit

Related Resources:

 

Newly Diagnosed With Colon Cancer? Key Advice From an Expert

Your Colon Cancer Care Colon Cancer Toolkit: Office Visit Planner

How Speaking Up Can Positively Impact Your Colon Cancer Care

Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

What are the main factors you take into consideration before a treatment approach is decided on?

Dr. Krishnamurthi:

For treatment of anyone with colorectal cancer, most important, of course, is the stage because stage determines whether it’s surgery alone or do we need to use chemotherapy or radiation? Or if it’s metastatic, is it systemic treatment only? We also look at the biologic features of the cancer, which we’re learning more and more are very important.

For example, we want every patient to know their DNA mismatch repair status. This is basically, is the cancer missing a gene that repairs damage to DNA? Then if that’s true, then we say they are DNA mismatch repair deficient. Or another term is “high microsatellite instability.” Mismatch repair deficient or microsatellite instability high, or you might hear MSI high.

That’s very important that we test that on all patients with colorectal cancer because in the early stage setting, it’s important because this is a way to identify patients who may have Lynch syndrome, the most common type of inherited colorectal cancer.

And also it impairs their prognosis. We know these patients tend to have a better prognosis. For example, for stage 2, we wouldn’t even have a conversation about chemotherapy if we know the patient has abnormal DNA mismatch repair or is MSI high. Then for patients of metastatic disease, it’s very important to know this upfront because those patients do better with immunotherapy as their first treatment.

So, we want to see those results for each patient. Then for our patients with metastatic cancer, we also need to see some other genetic mutations such as RAS, KRAS and NRAS gene mutations, because that affects what treatments we use.

Also, BRAF gene mutations are very important because of the particular regiment we use for treatment of that type of cancer.

We’re looking at the extent of the disease, what are the molecular features, and then also, of very importantly, what can the patient tolerate? What are the patient’s goals? We have a discussion about side effects and help them make the best choice for themselves.

Katherine Banwell:

Where do clinical trials fit in?

Dr. Krishnamurthi:

That’s an excellent question because clinical trials actually could be appropriate at any step along this pathway.

There are clinical trials that may be looking at tests to diagnose cancer better or detect it earlier.

There are treatment trials where they may be looking at standard treatment versus something investigational or standard plus investigational. Those sorts of treatment trials may be very interesting as the initial treatment or they could be used when a person has gone through all the standard treatments. Then there’s nothing left to do but try investigational. There are also studies that are looking at supportive care – a new treatment for nausea, for example. There are studies that are looking at the biologic factors of the cancer. Maybe asking a person to donate blood or give permission to use their tumor sample. By participation in these studies, people who volunteer for that are being so generous with their time and their lives.

But that’s how the field advances, especially for treatment trials. This is a way to access cutting edge treatments because the study is being done because the drug looks promising.

I think it’s very important to ask about clinical trials from the beginning and every time there’s a decision point made in the treatment.

How Is Colon Cancer Treated?

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

How Is Colon Cancer Treated? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Dr. Smitha Krishnamurthi, a colon cancer specialist from Cleveland Clinic, shares an overview of colon cancer treatment and which approaches are used for each stage for optimal patient outcomes.

Dr. Smitha Krishnamurthi is a gastrointestinal medical oncologist at the Cleveland Clinic. Learn more about Dr. Krishnamurthi here.

See More From The Pro-Active Colon Cancer Patient Toolkit

Related Resources:

Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

Can you provide us with an overview of how colon cancer is treated?

Dr. Krishnamurthi:

Yes. Colon cancer is treated based on the stage. It’s a disease that, for the vast majority of patients, is only cured with surgery.

If it can be surgically resected, that’s how this disease is cured. So, it’s very important that we do all we can to maximize early detection because it’s a highly curable cancer when it’s caught early. For early-stage colon cancer, patients are treated with surgery. So, stages 1, 2, and 3.

If it’s rectal cancer, we do some treatment before surgery. We give some chemotherapy and radiation for stages 2 and 3 beforehand to maximally shrink down the tumor to enable the surgeon to take the tumor out of the pelvis with normal tissue all around, like negative margins. Rectal cancer tends to be more complicated surgery because of its location in the pelvis.

So, it’s a little bit different from colon cancer in that we do that chemo radiation and chemotherapy up front. Whereas, for colon cancer, patients who have early-stage disease have surgery. And then, if it’s just stage 1, and this is true for rectal also, they’re done.

Excellent prognosis and go on to surveillance.

But if it’s a stage 2, then in colon cancer we have a discussion about chemotherapy afterwards because that could increase the cure rate for some patients. But for stage 3, we absolutely want to offer chemotherapy to our patients with colon cancer because of this very long, proven track record that chemotherapy can increase the cure rate for stage 3 patients, so when it’s gone to lymph nodes. Then if the disease is metastatic, meaning it’s spread to other distant organs like liver or lung, chemotherapy is the mainstay of treatment, generally speaking.

But there are subsets of patients who benefit from surgery. So, if the cancer is metastasized to just the liver or the lung or both organs, but in limited fashion, there is a track record for patients being cured with surgery.

We always are considering that when we have patients with metastatic disease. My first thought is, is this cancer potentially curable? Then we go from there. In some cases, it’s clear that it’s not curable; it’s widely metastatic. Then there’s no point in subjecting a person to surgery and we know that chemotherapy or drug therapy would be the mainstay of treatment.

What Are the Stages of Colon Cancer

/in , , , , , , /by

What Are the Stages of Colon Cancer from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Colon cancer specialist, Dr. Smitha Krishnamurthi of Cleveland Clinic, provides an overview of the stages of colon cancer and how these stages are determined.

Dr. Smitha Krishnamurthi is a gastrointestinal medical oncologist at the Cleveland Clinic. Learn more about Dr. Krishnamurthi here.

See More From The Pro-Active Colon Cancer Patient Toolkit

Related Resources:

How Is Colon Cancer Treated?

Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

Let’s start with a basic question. What are the stages of colon cancer?

Dr. Krishnamurthi:

Colon cancer is categorized in four stages – stage 1, 2, 3, 4. This takes into account the tumor itself, how thick it is. These tumors start on the inside of the colon, like as a polyp. Then they can grow through the colon wall. The tumor thickness and has it spread to any of the lymph nodes? and has it spread further to a distant organ like liver or lungs?

That’s a tumor node metastasis. Considerations that go into the staging. Stage 1 colon cancer or colorectal cancer would be a very shallow tumor, maybe just in a polyp and hasn’t spread to any nodes or anywhere else. Stage 2 is when the tumor is thicker. It may be involving the full thickness of the colon or rectum but has not spread to any nearby lymph nodes. Stage 3 is when the cancer has spread to regional or nearby lymph nodes. Stage 4 is when it’s metastatic or it’s spread to another organ.

Katherine:

Okay. Thank you.

How Can BIPOC Prostate Cancer Patients Protect Themselves Against Care Inequities?

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

How Can BIPOC Prostate Cancer Patients Protect Themselves Against Care Inequities? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo. 

How can BIPOC prostate cancer patients help protect themselves against care inequities? Host Dr. Nicole Rochester and Dr. Yaw Nyame share their perspectives about factors that work against equitable care for some BIPOC patients – and how patients and providers can work toward improving care for better health outcomes.

See More From Best Prostate Cancer Care No Matter Where You Live

Related Resources:

How Can Prostate Cancer Patients and Providers Help Ensure Quality Care?

Transcript:

Dr. Nicole Rochester: 

We know that there are as with every other type of cancer and every other disease, there are significant health disparities with BIPOC patients. And so, Dr. Nyame, I’d love for you to talk about specifically with prostate cancer, some of the disparities that you see in your practice and in your research, and then what are some things that patients of color can do to protect themselves from these inequities? 

Dr. Nyame: 

This is a very important topic for me, it’s something that I am very passionate about, and as Dr. Grivas alluded to, I am doing a lot of research on, and I think the statistics are so grey. Black men are 80 percent more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer. So the average man in the United States has a one and nine lifetime risk of being diagnosed with prostate cancer, that’s probably one in six or one in seven Black men. Black men are twice as likely to die from prostate cancer compared to men of other races and ethnicities in the United States, and a lot of this is driven by the social milieu and factors that we’ve talked about today. What troubles me is when we talk about these statistics, I fear that that in of itself is crippling for some Black men, “If I have this diagnosis, and I’m not going to do well. Why should I do anything?” And I can tell you that the literature and all the research that we do, and it gets refreshed every 10 years or so, someone will do the study and it shows that if we have Black men and men of other races or white men, and we give them the same treatment for the same level of disease, that the outcomes are actually very similar. And a better way to state that for me is if you’re diagnosed early and you get the treatment that you should get irrespective of your race, it seems like outcomes can be quite good. 

And so, a lot of what we see with regards to prostate cancer inequities are driven by lower treatment rates and probably an impact of lower quality care. And when I say that, what does that mean? Well, do you get your care at places like the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance or the Cleveland Clinic, or Johns Hopkins or MD Anderson, where you have providers who are expert and do a lot of prostate cancer care, or are you being seen by someone in the community who I guarantee is an excellent clinician, but doesn’t have the same resources and the same expertise, in the sense of being focused on one disease process or one set of cancers? For instance, we are genitourinary cancer specialists, a fancy term for being cancer doctors of the plumbing system. But because that’s all we focus on, we know a lot about the process, we know what works, and we know what the standards of care. So, I think when you can get the right treatment at the right time, and you can get it from teams that are really specialized in this, that our outcomes are going to not care about what your self-defined race is when you check the box. 

The problem is, how do we get…how do we close that gap that exists currently that doesn’t allow people to get that care, and I think we’ve talked about rurality, so I think…I grew up in Oklahoma, and I could see that if you are in the sticks in Oklahoma and you’re not near a cancer center, like something down in Dallas, that your care might be impacted, but…especially if you have to travel a lot and it’s expensive. But we have major U.S. cities like Los Angeles where you may share a ZIP code with a millionaire but use very different health services. So, it’s not always a reflection of how far you have to travel, but it also is factors about how welcoming institutions that provide high quality care can feel for populations like our BIPOC populations who sometimes have been the subject of medical experimentation and lower quality care sometimes because they might not get shuttled to the same services historically. And I think we have a lot to undo to rebuild the trust that is required to have Black men not be fearful of seeking care from us, but be trusting. 

NCCN Guidance on Safety and Effectiveness of COVID-19 Vaccines for Cancer Patients

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

NCCN Guidance on Safety and Effectiveness of COVID-19 Vaccines for Cancer Patients from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Is the COVID-19 vaccine recommended for people living with cancer? Dr. Erin Roesch shares recommendations from the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) for those undergoing cancer treatment, including guidance on mask wearing and advice for family members.

Dr. Erin Roesch is a breast medical oncologist at the Cleveland Clinic. Learn more about Dr. Roesch here.

Transcript:

Katherine: 

Many cancer patients have questions about the COVID vaccine. Is it safe? Do we need to continue wearing masks? Here to address these questions is cancer expert, Dr. Erin Roesch. Dr. Roesch, would you introduce yourself?

Dr. Roesch: 

Hello. And thank you for inviting me to participate in this very important conversation. My name is Erin Roesch. I am a breast medical oncologist at Cleveland Clinic.

Katherine: 

Excellent. Thank you so much for joining us today. I’d like to run through a list of concerns that cancer patients have about vaccines in general and the COVID vaccine specifically.

So, let’s start with a basic question. Should people get vaccinated if they have cancer?

Dr. Roesch: 

Yes. All individuals diagnosed with cancer should get the COVID-19 vaccine as recommended by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network or NCCN.

An immunocompromised state makes many people with cancer at higher risk of serious COVID-19 illness. Those who are vaccinated are less likely to become sick with COVID-19. And, also, vaccinated people who do get COVID-19 are much less likely to become seriously ill.

I would also mention that those living in the same household as a person diagnosed with cancer and caregivers or other close contacts should also get vaccinated.

Katherine: 

Another common question is whether people with cancer should wait for any reason to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Dr. Roesch: 

Most people with cancer should get the vaccine as soon as they can with a few exceptions according to NCCN.

People in the process of receiving stem cell transplant or cellular therapy should wait at least three months after they finish treatment to get vaccinated.

Those diagnosed with certain forms of leukemia should also wait a few weeks after receiving treatment to allow their immune system to recover so the vaccine can be effective.

It’s not been clearly defined exactly how chemotherapy affects responses to COVID-19 vaccines. But some data suggests that immune responses may not be as robust. However, it is still recommended that those receiving chemotherapy and also immunotherapy and radiation should get vaccinated whenever they can.

Katherine:

I think a lot of people are concerned too about whether one vaccine is better than another. What would you say to them?

Dr. Roesch:

And that is a common question that I often get in my clinic. And I advise my patients to receive or take whatever vaccine they are offered.

We don’t really have any studies or data at this point suggesting one being better than another in cancer patients.

Katherine: 

Some people are wondering if the vaccine can give a person COVID-19. How would you address that?

Dr. Roesch: 

I would say that as none of the currently available vaccines are made with a live virus, the vaccine itself can’t give a person COVID-19. By getting vaccinated, actually, those who are immunocompromised are really helping society to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Immunocompromised people who get COVID-19 may be more likely to infect others due to prolonged shedding of the virus after infection.

Katherine:

What about side effects? Are the vaccine’s side effects worse for people with cancer?

Dr. Roesch:  

No. Side effects do not appear to be worse for those diagnosed with cancer. Results to date suggest that the vaccine’s side effects in people with and without cancer are really no different.

These side effects, as we have seen, may include arm soreness, rash, fatigue, chills, fever, headache, for example.

Katherine: 

And, finally, can cancer patients stop wearing a mask after they’ve been vaccinated?

Dr. Roesch:

Cancer patients should continue to wear a mask post-vaccination. Many people with cancer may have a harder time actually fighting infections and may not respond as well to vaccines. So, people diagnosed with cancer and their close contacts should get vaccinated and then continue to follow precautions, which include wearing masks, social distancing, hand hygiene.

Katherine:

Is there a certain length of time that people need to continue wearing a mask after being vaccinated?

Dr. Roesch:  

At this time, I would recommend patients continue to follow the CDC guidelines that are currently in place. And at this point, I don’t think we have a projected end time for that yet.

Katherine:    

Is there anything else you’d like to share with cancer patients who may be concerned about vaccinations?

Dr. Roesch:    

I would encourage those diagnosed with cancer to not only themselves get vaccinated but to also really voice and stress the importance of vaccination to those that surround them, including, again, members of their household, close contacts, and even beyond their inner circle.

I would also advise people to try and avoid letting the concern of possible side effects related to the shot deter them from getting it. The symptoms of COVID-19 can be much worse and potentially serious for some compared with the relatively minor side effects that we’ve seen with the vaccine itself.

I also would mention I’ve had personal patients that have expressed concern about functioning of their immune system while receiving chemotherapy and how this might affect their response to the vaccine. I do emphasize to them that even though responses might not be as strong as they may be in the absence of active treatment, I feel like the potential benefits of the vaccine still outweigh the risks in my mind.

Katherine:   

Thanks so much for joining us today, Dr. Roesch.

Dr. Roesch:

Thank you for having me.

Metastatic BC Research: How Can You Advocate for the Latest Treatment?

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

Metastatic BC Research: How Can You Advocate for the Latest Treatment? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What do metastatic breast cancer patients need to know about the latest research news? Dr. Megan Kruse shares highlights from the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), along with her advice for advocating for the right testing to help guide treatment options.

Dr. Megan Kruse is a Breast Medical Oncologist at the Cleveland Clinic. More about this expert here.

See More From INSIST! Metastatic Breast Cancer

Related Resources:

 

What Could Advances in Breast Cancer Research Mean for You?

How Can You Advocate for the Best Breast Cancer Care?

Factors That Guide a Metastatic Breast Cancer Treatment Decision

 

Transcript:

Dr. Kruse:                   

At this year’s San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, there were a few interesting presentations about the treatment of first-line metastatic triple-negative breast cancer that I think patients should be aware of.

Two of the presentations centered around trials that were presented in the past. Those reporting, patients reported outcomes from the IMpassion 130 study, which looked at chemotherapy for metastatic triple-negative disease plus the immunotherapy atezolizumab. And then, there was also an update on the results from the KEYNOTE-355 study, which was a study again of chemotherapy for metastatic triple-negative patients in combination with pembrolizumab, a different immunotherapy. And both of these studies showed that there was benefit for women in certain sub-groups of triple-negative breast cancer when looking at addition of immunotherapy.

And so, what I’d like to draw patients’ attention to with these presentations is that you have to be aware of if you fall into one of these categories so you know if you’re a candidate for the particular type of immunotherapy that can be added to chemotherapy. There are two different ways to test for if a patient is a candidate for immunotherapy and they are both tests that can be done on biopsies of metastatic or cancer recurrent sites in the body.

They can also be sent off of original breast cancer tumors. And what we now know is that for patients who do not have markers that suggest immune activation or where the immune system would be responsive to immunotherapy the addition of that extra therapy really does not help to improve cancer control over chemotherapy alone. And I think that’s a really important topic because everyone is very interested in immunotherapy, but it does have side effects of its own and it can actually be lasting side effects in terms of inflammation in organs like the liver, the colon, and the lungs.

And then, the third presentation that I’d like to bring up is the IPATunity study, which looked at the addition of a targeted therapy called ipatasertib to, again, chemotherapy for the first treatment of metastatic triple-negative disease.

And so, this is getting into an area of targeted therapy for metastatic triple-negative disease. And again, only looks at patients that have a particular marker that suggests sensitivity to this drug. And those are certain genetic markers, predominately changes in a DNA marker called PIK3CA. In this study, we actually found that there was no benefit for the targeted therapy added to chemotherapy for patients that had that genetic mutation, which was different than what was seen in earlier studies of the same combination. So, I think there’s more work to be done and it’s probably too early to say that this targeted therapy will not be used in treatment of metastatic breast cancer.

But what all of these research studies show together is that metastatic triple-negative cancer is not really just one disease. It’s very clear that within that one name, there are multiple different patient types and tumor types that need to be cared for differently.

And so, again, I think the theme from these abstracts and these research presentations is that we have to look into the right therapy for the right patient at the right time, which largely involved DNA-based testing.

So, when patients are thinking about their treatment options and how to best help with their providers about what treatment options exist for them, I think it’s important to recognize the type of testing that may be advantageous in your cancer type.

And so, for all metastatic breast cancer patients, we really recommend that they’ve had genetic testing to look for DNA changes like BRCA mutations that will lead to treatment options. For metastatic triple-negative disease, it’s important to make sure that you’re providers are testing for PDL1, which would make you a candidate for immunotherapy. And then, the more we learn about clinical trials, the more we have options for patients that have had drug-based DNA or genome-based testing. So, that’s an important term for patients to become familiar with is genomic testing.

And I think when you bring that up with your providers, they’ll know what you’re talking about and they’ll know that what you’re potentially interested in is new targeted therapy for the cancer that may either come in combination with chemotherapy or as a standalone treatment option. If you don’t have those options that are available, and FDA approved basis for regular routine patient care, there is always the option of clinical trials.

And so, if that is something that you’re interested in, genomic testing will often open the way. So, I think as you’re writing notes when you’re talking to your providers, you might wanna jot down whether or not you’ve had genetic testing and whether or not you’ve had genomic testing in the past, as both of those things will help potentially address all of your treatment options.

I’ve very hopeful about the research that is going to lead to new developments for breast cancer treatment in the next few years.

I think what we’ve seen both at this San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium as well as other conferences in the recent past has been a lot of focus on finding the right treatment for the right patient at the right time. And so, patients seem to be very interested in finding out this information. They often come to clinic armed with the most recent data, which allows their providers to have really informed discussions about what the best treatment might be. And to talk about if the new treatments are not great right now, what treatments might look like in the future.

I think the other thing that’s encouraging about the research that we’ve seen presented at this conference is that some of these trials are very, very large. For example, the RxPONDER trial was a trial of over 9,000 patients. And I really think that’s amazing to get that many patients interested in research that may not directly impact their patient care but will impact the care of others moving forward.

It’s just a sign that our breast cancer patients are empowered, and they want to make a difference in the scientific community as a whole.

 

Breast Cancer Research News: SABCS Conference Highlights

/in , , , , , , , /by

Breast Cancer Research News: SABCS Conference Highlights from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo. 

Expert Dr. Megan Kruse shares highlights from the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS). Dr. Kruse provides an overview of what this news means for early stage breast cancer patients, along with her optimism about the future of breast cancer research and treatment.

Dr. Megan Kruse is a Breast Medical Oncologist at the Cleveland Clinic. More about this expert here.

See More From The Pro-Active Breast Cancer Patient Toolkit

Related Resources:

Are You Prepared for Your Breast Cancer Appointment? Expert Tips

 

Transcript:

Dr. Kruse:                   

The San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium is a national meeting with international presence that combines all of the latest data from research on breast cancer topics. It involves clinical research, basic science research, a lot of patient, and patient advocate support.

And the idea here is to bring together all the different disciplines that are involved in breast cancer patient care and do the best information and knowledge sharing that we can each year.

This year’s San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium brought us a lot of interesting research focusing on early-stage breast cancer patients. I think the most important presentations that were given had to do with the treatment of high-risk lymph node-positive hormone receptor-positive breast cancer patients. And these were really across three abstracts. The first abstract of interest was the Monarch E study, which looked at high-risk women with hormone receptor-positive HER2-negative breast cancer and optimizing their medical therapy.

So, these patients are typically treated with anti-estrogen therapy and the idea of the research that was presented was if the addition of a targeted medication called abemaciclib or Verzenio could help to improve outcomes for women in this population. And what the trial found was that for women who took their anti-estrogen therapy for the usual length of time but added the abemaciclib for the first two years of that anti-estrogen therapy that there is actually an improvement in cancer-free survival time or an improvement in cure rates. And this was important because these women may not benefit from chemotherapy, as we’ll talk about in another abstract.

An addition research presentation that was given that goes alongside of the monarch E study was that of the Penelope B study. And the Penelope B took a similar population to what was studied in Monarch E. So, again high-risk women with lymph node-positive, hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer; however, in Penelope B, all of these patients had received pre-surgery chemotherapy.

And in order to qualify for the trial, the patients had to have some cancer that remained in the breast or the lymph nodes that was taken out at the time of their surgery. So, these are patients clearly in which chemotherapy did not do the whole job in terms of getting rid of the cancer. And again, the idea here was to add a second targeted therapy to the endocrine therapy to see if that would improve cancer-free time for patients in this population. The difference in this study was that the partner targeted therapy that was used was a drug called palbociclib or Ibrance.

And the drug was actually only used for one year in combination with endocrine therapy rather than two years as was used in the Monarch E study with abemaciclib. Interestingly enough, the Penelope B study was a negative study, meaning that it did not improve the cancer-free survival time for women who took the endocrine therapy plus targeted therapy compared to women who took the endocrine therapy alone.

So, I think that these are two interesting studies that one should look at together. And clearly, may impact what we do for the treatment of high-risk hormone receptor-positive women moving forward. The third abstract that I’d like to touch on that I think was important for women with early-stage breast cancer is the RxPONDER study, also known as SWOG 1007. And this study again was looking at lymph node-positive, hormone receptor-positive HER2-negative breast cancer patients and seeing if the addition of chemotherapy helped to improve their cancer-free survival compared to anti-estrogen therapy alone.

And so, in this study, while the study population was all women with early-stage breast cancer, meeting the one to three lymph node-positive criteria, you really have to break the results down into the results for pre-menopausal women and the results for post-menopausal women.

Because overall the study really showed no significant benefit to chemotherapy on top of endocrine therapy for women in this population; however, we did see that there was a clear benefit for women who were pre-menopausal. So, the women who had no benefit from chemotherapy were largely those who were post-menopausal, while those who were pre-menopausal derived extra benefit from chemo on top of anti-estrogen therapy. And that benefit depended on what the Oncotype recurrent score was.

With women that had the lowest of the recurrent scores having a chemo benefit of about three percent going up to over five percent for women who had Oncotype recurrent scores in the mid-teens to 25 range. In both of these groups, women who had Oncotype scores of 26 or above would have chemotherapy as per our standard of care.

So, I think that this abstract is important because in the past women who had lymph node-positive breast cancer generally received chemotherapy no matter what. More recently we’ve understood that not all of these cancers are created equal and that some cancers may not actually have benefit from chemotherapy in terms of improving cure rate. So, this study is a big step forward to help individualize and specify the treatment for women with lymph node-positive, hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative early breast cancer.

I’ve very hopeful about the research that is going to lead to new developments for breast cancer treatment in the next few years.

I think what we’ve seen both at this San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium as well as other conferences in the recent past has been a lot of focus on finding the right treatment for the right patient at the right time. And so, patients seem to be very interested in finding out this information. They often come to clinic armed with the most recent data, which allows their providers to have really informed discussions about what the best treatment might be. And to talk about if the new treatments are not great right now, what treatments might look like in the future.

I think the other thing that’s encouraging about the research that we’ve seen presented at this conference is that some of these trials are very, very large. For example, the RxPONDER trial was a trial of over 9,000 patients. And I really think that’s amazing to get that many patients interested in research that may not directly impact their patient care but will impact the care of others moving forward.                                   

It’s just a sign that our breast cancer patients are empowered, and they want to make a difference in the scientific community as a whole.

 

Advocating for Key AML Testing: Advice From an Expert

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

Advocating for Key AML Testing: Advice From an Expert from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Dr. Hetty Carraway, an AML specialist at Cleveland Clinic, shares advice on advocating for yourself when diagnosed with AML, underscoring the importance of asking questions, and including your caregiver as part of the conversation.

Dr. Hetty Carraway is Director of the Leukemia Program at Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Carraway cares for patients with acute leukemia and bone marrow failure states. Learn more about Dr. Carraway, here.

See More From INSIST! AML

Related Resources:


 Treatment Approaches in AML: Key Testing for Personalized Care
 New AML Therapies vs. Traditional Chemotherapy: What’s the Difference?
 Understanding Risk in AML: How Molecular Testing Affects Treatment Options

Transcript:

Katherine:

What advice do you have for patients when it comes to asking for appropriate testing and speaking up in their own care?

Dr. Carraway:            

This is so important. I think patients are leery to stir the pot or be difficult. I think coming from a place of inquiry, teach me about this, that, or the other thing, help me understand this, that, or the other thing – I would like you to show me why this decision or talk with me about why this decision versus another decision might be better for me compared to somebody else.

I can’t underscore the importance of advocating for yourself and asking questions about why am I getting this drug? What are the side effects to this drug? What is my prognosis? What is different about my case versus somebody else’s situation? How do I best prepare myself in getting ready for the therapy that I’m about to go through?

Those are all important questions that patients should ask. They should certainly have people, if possible in their family be advocates for them. I welcome that, and I think that that’s a really important part of going through this type of therapy for any patient. Your physician should welcome having your involvement in that. Don’t be shy about that. It’s your health, and any investment in that the most important people in that is inclusive of you and your caregivers. They should be a welcome part of the team.

Understanding AML Induction and Consolidation Therapy

/in , , , , , , , /by

Understanding AML Induction and Consolidation Therapy from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Dr. Hetty Carraway, an AML specialist at Cleveland Clinic, provides an explanation of the role of induction and consolidation therapy in AML patients.

Dr. Hetty Carraway is Director of the Leukemia Program at Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Carraway cares for patients with acute leukemia and bone marrow failure states. Learn more about Dr. Carraway, here.

See More From INSIST! AML

Related Resources:


 Treatment Approaches in AML: Key Testing for Personalized Care
 New AML Therapies vs. Traditional Chemotherapy: What’s the Difference?
 Understanding Risk in AML: How Molecular Testing Affects Treatment Options

Transcript:

Katherine:

Would you define induction therapy and consolidation therapy and tell us what the differences are?

Dr. Carraway:            

For most patients that are diagnosed with an acute myeloid leukemia, over the last 30 to 40 years we’ve used an intensive chemotherapy regimen that we call induction. Induction means that we’re trying to get the leukemia into remission with an intensive chemotherapy regimen. Classically, that has been two agents; one, a cytarabine based regimen along with an anthracycline, either idarubicin, danorubicin, or some anthracycline that’s similar.

Now, the cytarabine based therapy is a continuous infusion over seven days. The anthracycline is given over three days as an intravenous IV push, and so that’s why it’s kind of been nicknamed seven and three – seven days of cytarabine and three days of another anthracycline.

Now, that has constituted the induction intensive regimen in the hospital with the idea that that leukemia gets under control and goes away. More recently for patients, they can receive therapy that is not this inpatient, in-hospital, induction chemotherapy but rather use oral therapy combining with venetoclax, which is a Bcl-2 inhibitor, along with azacitidine, which is either IV or subcutaneous given to patients over seven days. The oral, venetoclax is every day.

That type of induction can also be given and is now an outpatient regimen and more often offered to patients that are older, over the age of 75.

That, too can be considered induction with the idea that once a patient is diagnosed with leukemia this regimen is started, and after one month or even two months on venetoclax plus azacitidine patients’ leukemia can get into what we call remission, where the blast percentages are less than 5 percent. Then, normal hematopoiesis of platelets being greater than 100,000 and a neutrophil count greater than 500 or 1,000, and the patient is then transfusion-independent.

In general, induction chemotherapy is that first round of chemotherapy that’s trying to get the leukemia under control.

Consolidation chemotherapy is when you use subsequent cycles of chemotherapy to keep the leukemia under control because we know that if we don’t continue to give some continuation of therapy that the small, little seeds of leukemia will re-emerge and leukemia will relapse.

Essential Testing in AML: How Results Impact Care & Treatment Choices

/in , , , , , , , /by

Essential Testing in AML: How Results Impact Care & Treatment Choices from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What tests should follow an AML diagnosis and why? Dr. Hetty Carraway, an AML specialist of Cleveland Clinic, reviews the essential testing for patients with AML and explains how those test results may inform treatment decisions.

Dr. Hetty Carraway is Director of the Leukemia Program at Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Carraway cares for patients with acute leukemia and bone marrow failure states. Learn more about Dr. Carraway, here.

Download Program Resource Guide

See More From INSIST! AML

Related Resources:

What Is the Patient’s Role in Making AML Treatment Decisions?

What Is the Patient’s Role in Making AML Treatment Decisions?

Navigating AML Treatment Decisions

Insist! AML Resource Guide

Transcript:

Katherine:      

Hello, and welcome. I’m Katherine Banwell. Today, we’ll discuss how you can be proactive by insisting on better AML care and personalized treatment options. Joining me is Dr. Hetty Carraway.

Welcome, Dr. Carraway. Would you please introduce yourself?

Dr. Carraway:            

Hi. My name is Dr. Hetty Carraway. I’m one of the physicians at the Cleveland Clinic. I work as the Director of the Leukemia Program, and I spend most of my time caring for patients with acute leukemia and bone marrow failure states.

Katherine:                  

Thank you.  Let’s start with the basics. What essential testing should AML patients undergo following a diagnosis?

Dr. Carraway:            

This is a pretty standard workup for patients that have this diagnosis of acute leukemia.

For most of our patients we always evaluate with a peripheral blood count including a complete blood count with differential, typically a comprehensive metabolic panel, and looking at a test called a uric acid, which looks at the cell turnover and the cellular debris in terms of the burden on the kidney. We often will get a bone marrow biopsy with aspirate for patients, and in the diagnosis of leukemia typically that’s already been done.

There are tests that are sent off of that aspirate called a test for chromosomes, whether it’s comprehensive cytogenetics or FISH, for fluorescence in situ hybridization. We’re often testing using a study called NGS or next generation sequencing looking for specific mutations of genes known to be important in the pathogenesis of leukemia.

Furthermore, we often get a test called flow cytometry from that aspirate looking at the markers on top of the leukemia cells that help us to identify the blast population. So, I would say those by and large are the tests in the bone marrow biopsy that we get, which are innumerable and detailed.

They often take some time to get back, so at the time of the diagnosis patients know that they have a diagnosis of leukemia, but those additional chromosome tests or mutation testing that can take up to two weeks if not longer to get back. And so, it’s important to follow up on that information later on and say, has that testing come back? If so, how does that change any of what the decisions are moving forward?

Katherine:                  

Genetic testing can often be confused with molecular testing. What’s the difference between the two, and why should patients undergo the testing?

Dr. Carraway:            

The chromosome testing and the mutational testing help us to really classify the risk in terms of the leukemia itself, whether or not that leukemia is responsive to chemotherapy alone, or if it means that there’s a higher likelihood of that leukemia not being controlled with leukemia only.

In that setting, we often then move towards transplant for curative intent in addition to the chemotherapy. The reasons to get the information is to really help us better tailor the therapy for each individual patient. That information really does help us guide not only the upfront therapy for some patients but even the long-term therapy. It can be incredibly overwhelming to have too much information at the get-go, so in some senses it’s better to have these pieces as they unfold over time.

For other patients, they want to know what exactly the plan is going to be A to Z from day one. That is of course more challenging now that it just takes time to get this information. I think what they need to know is that we’re working hard to get that information.

As soon as we get it, we don’t hold back. We reveal and share that information and come together to say, this is what this data or information means, and these are some of the choices that we either recommend that you consider, and these are the risks and benefits to those considerations.

Katherine:                  

Let’s look at something that is similar to what you’ve just been talking about. How do test results impact treatment and overall care?

Dr. Carraway:            

They really can. When you asked me how come chromosome or genetic information is different than mutational information, the chromosomes can help us to figure out where patients land in terms of prognosis. That information is different than the mutational testing. Both of those pieces can help us figure that out.

The mutational test, I will tell you, does help us figure out are there targets on the leukemia that allow us to use therapy that’s directed to that mutation. The key example I’ll give is a mutation in a gene called FLT3. That particular mutation has an agent now that is F.D.A. approved called Midostaurin, and so once we know that a leukemia harbors a FLT3 mutation we often add a drug called Midostaurin to the backbone therapy that is used for patients.

Now, that’s important, and now there are more and more genes that when mutated we have novel therapies that direct against that specific tag that’s on the leukemia and helps to improve eradication of the disease or control of the disease if you will.

That’s different than the genetic information when we’re looking at chromosomal changes that may allow us to say in the rare instances of  favorable cytogenetics like a translocation of chromosome 15 and 17 consistent with APL, the treatment for that type of leukemia,  acute promyelocytic leukemia, is very different than what we do for the majority of other leukemias.  

The prognosis for that leukemia is also very different. It helps to tailor the regimens, and it helps to select specific therapy that may be helpful to each individual patient.

Katherine:                  

Dr. Carraway, you just mentioned FLT3. Would you tell us about the common mutations in AML and how these may impact treatment options?

Dr. Carraway:            

There’s a multitude of mutations that we’re now following in patients. The way that we follow them is by doing this next generation sequencing test at the upfront time at diagnosis.

The reason why we’re doing that is because those mutations can regress with therapy, or they can progress where you gain additional mutations that happen as the disease progresses. Even if it’s responding to therapy or as it loses response to therapy and reemerges, it may reemerge with different mutations. As a result of that, it may change what therapy we select. Our ability at this point in being to recommend exactly at what time points we are checking the next generation sequencing we’re still learning right now as to what are the key times to do that testing.

In general, most institutions are doing that next generation sequencing at the time of diagnosis, and then also for some patients before they go to bone marrow transplant and even after bone marrow transplant.

For some of those patients that unfortunately relapse, we’re also making sure to retest the next generation sequencing mutation testing to see are there new mutations that have come about that weren’t there before?

Katherine:                 

I understand there’s something called IDH. 

Dr. Carraway:            

You were also asking about what other mutations besides FLT3 happen in patients with AML. FLT3 is one such mutation. NPM1 is another mutation that often it frequents patients that have AML. Those two mutations happen in about 30 percent of patients with AML. There are other mutations such as DNMT3A, ASXL1, and TET2 that we typically see in patients with MDS or even a pre-leukemia state called CHIP. For other patients, we have mutations that are targetable like IDH1 or IDH2.

Those two mutations happen in probably 10 percent to 15 percent of patients diagnosed with AML. Why are those important? They’re important because we have oral medications that are pills that patients can take. In the relapse setting for many patients after induction or intensive chemotherapy, they can use these oral therapies to try and control their leukemia. These are pretty exciting. 

All of these oral therapies have been approved in the last two to three years in the space of leukemia, so it’s been a game-changer in terms of identifying these mutations and then identifying drugs that target those mutations. It’s really changed the landscape for patients with AML. It’s new information, and that’s why as patients you want to hear about this so you know what questions to ask and you know, can you tell me, am I a candidate for one of these oral medications that is now available for patients with AML?

Katherine:                  

Dr. Carraway, thanks so much for joining us today.

Dr. Carraway:            

Thank you for the opportunity to be here. 

Katherine:                  

And thank you to our audience. I’m Katherine Banwell.

How Can Breast Cancer Genetic Testing Empower Women?

/in , , , , , , , /by

How Can Breast Cancer Genetic Testing Empower Women? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Dr. Stephanie Valente explains how breast cancer genetic testing results can help women learn about their breast cancer risk and guide prognosis and treatment choices.

Dr. Stephanie Valente is the Director of the Breast Surgery Fellowship Program at Cleveland Clinic. More about this expert here.

See More From INSIST! Metastatic Breast Cancer

Related Resources:

 

What Should You Know About the Role of Surgery in Breast Cancer Treatment?

How Genetic Mutations Affect Metastatic Breast Cancer Prognosis and Treatment

What Could Metastatic Breast Cancer Genetic Testing Advances Mean for You?

Transcript:

Dr. Valente:                

So, genetic testing in this day and age is really empowering to a lot of women. So, it allows women to take control of their health from the beginning. So, if somebody has a strong family history of breast cancer, and that woman doesn’t have breast cancer but wants to know if she’s at an increased genetic risk for developing breast cancer in her lifetime – Knowing that risk and if a gene is identified, that woman could undergo high-risk screening.

So, saying if she develops breast cancer, it would be caught early, and she can go into a high-risk program. Or she can elect to prophylactically – meaning before cancer – remove her breasts. That would be both of the breasts with a mastectomy – Again, with or without reconstruction. And so, that decreases the risk.

Nothing in life is 100%. But it essentially decreases the risk of getting breast cancer. Some of the genes, like the BRCA gene – that’s a very common gene – is a 60% to 80% lifetime risk of developing breast cancer. And so, that would take that lifetime risk down to about 5% risk of developing breast cancer. And so, that’s empowering for a lot of women. And so, some women do elect to have that procedure.

The other thing for genetic testing is that for women who are diagnosed with breast cancer, sometimes the triple-negative breast cancer – finding out whether or not they carry a BRCA gene. We know that certain genes in triple-negative breast cancer allow patients to have better treatment outcomes with certain chemotherapy. So, the medical oncologist may opt to add a specific chemotherapy based on whether or not that patient actually carries a genetic mutation.