Tag Archive for: primary care physician

Why Should Bladder Cancer Patients See a Specialist?

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Why Should Bladder Cancer Patients See a Specialist?  from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Dr. Fern Anari from Fox Chase Cancer Center reviews the benefits of seeing a specialist for a consultation following a bladder cancer diagnosis.

Dr. Fern M. Anari is a genitourinary medical oncologist and assistant professor in the Department of Hematology/Oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center. Learn more about Dr. Anari, here.

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Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

Why should patients consider seeing a bladder cancer specialist? And how can they find a specialist?   

Dr. Anari:

So, I think, always, you can speak with your primary care doctor or your local urologist. They’ll know the bladder cancer specialist in the area. I think it’s important to see a bladder cancer specialist, because the field of oncology is always changing. So, you want to be treated by someone who really is the most up to date on treating bladder cancer. 

Bladder cancer specialists may also have access to cutting-edge clinical trials, which you may be interested in. So, it’s nice to know what both the standard options are but also the clinical trial options to see what the best fit is for you.  

Katherine Banwell:

What advice do you have for patients that may feel like they are hurting their doctor’s feelings by seeking a second opinion?  

Dr. Anari:

So, if my patient is interested in getting a second opinion, I always encourage it. And I actually give them recommendations on people to see. I think very few providers will feel offended or upset by one of their patients requesting a second opinion. At the end of the day, each person’s cancer journey is different. And each person needs to feel comfortable with their own treatment plan. 

And by getting a second opinion, they may have treatment options available to them that weren’t otherwise available. So, it’s always nice to know what’s out there.  

How to Locate Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials and Improve Awareness

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How to Locate Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials and Improve Awareness from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

 How is prostate cancer impact different for some populations? Watch as experts Dr. Yaw Nyame and Sherea Cary share the benefits of clinical trials, reliable clinical trial resources, and how clinical trial participation rates can be improved for better care.

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Transcript:

Sherea Cary: 

What advice do you have for prostate cancer patients about locating a clinical trial? Where can you find one? 

Dr. Nyame: 

Clinical trials tend to happen at the big cancer centers and the big academic university centers, although many of those programs will have affiliate partners out in the community. The easiest way to learn about clinical trials is to start by asking the physician that’s treating you for your prostate cancer, oftentimes, they’ll have resources and connections to the trials directly or are the people who are administering them. However, other great sources are going to be patient advocacy networks, and there are many of them for prostate cancer, there’s one…there are several. I’ll start naming a few. They have the Prostate Cancer Foundation, you have Us TOO, you have Zero Cancer, you have a PHEN, Prostate Health Education Network, which is an advocacy group for Black men with prostate cancer. So, these are all great sources of finding out what clinical trials exist, and in addition, you can just get on the Internet and Google if that’s something you have access to. The trick is navigating all the information, and I think knowing what trials are available for you, whether you qualify, that kind of thing can be difficult, and that’s ultimately where finding a provider, whether it’s your direct urologists or radiation oncologist or whoever is helping treat your prostate cancer, either them directly or sometimes seeking a second opinion, and going to a place where you might find someone who has some expertise in trials, if that’s something that you’re interested in. 

Sherea Cary: 

My father participated in a clinical trial, it was going on, I think the time of his treatment, and it was offered to us, and he was at a big facility here in Houston that offered…ask him if he wanted to participate. We did a lot of research. We said we’d try it. And we were glad to be able to participate. I participated in clinical trials also for different health conditions, because I believe it’s important that we have to participate in order for our people to gather the information that’s necessary. So, thank you for that. 

Dr. Nyame: 

Absolutely, you know I think there are a lot of reasons that we think that our Black community, for instance, may not participate in a clinical trial given the history of medical experimentation and various forms of abuse that have existed in our history. But what I recently heard from our partner of our community partners at PHEN, when they surveyed Black men about prostate cancer clinical trials, was that although there was some concern about trust in the history, that the overwhelming majority of the men wanted to participate, but they never were asked. And that’s really stuck with me, and I think that Black men are under-represented in clinical trials, and we have to find ways to be more inclusive and understand what barriers might exist into participation so that we can have that data to care better for the population. 

Why Is Prostate Cancer Often Referred to As a Couples’ Disease?

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Why Is Prostate Cancer Often Referred to As a Couples’ Disease? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Prostate cancer is often referred to as a disease of couples, but why is that? Watch as expert Dr. Yaw Nyame shares the impact of social support on prostate cancer outcomes and ways that family and friends can help with prostate cancer care.

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Transcript:

Sherea Cary: 

So, some people may consider prostate cancer a couples’ disease. What advice would you give to a care partner? My father was a prostate cancer survivor, my mother was very supportive of him, but I took much of the lead as far as being his caregiver and coordinating things between my father, his doctors’ appointments, and with my siblings. 

Do you believe that support people, caregivers, such as children, are able to also assist in receiving care? 

Dr. Nyame: 

Absolutely. The data is overwhelming in this scenario, patients who are partnered or have strong social support do better, and I always say that the patients who have the best outcomes when it comes to cancer, have someone like you, Sherea in their life. It’s not surprising, given the burden of cancer treatment, that having someone that can help navigate all the aspects of your care and be there to support you leads to better outcomes and better satisfaction with the treatments that you choose. A cancer diagnosis, especially prostate cancer diagnosis, a disease that has a very high cure rate, has a very long-life span, but has really life-altering potential consequences of the treatments you received, has an impact on what we return for survivorship. So how do you live with your cancer, and so the individuals that are there to support you through that journey are absolutely critical.  

How Can a Multi-Disciplinary Team Benefit Prostate Cancer Patients?

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How Can a Multi-Disciplinary Team Benefit Prostate Cancer Patients? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

 A prostate cancer multi-disciplinary team can benefit patient care. Watch as expert Dr. Yaw Nyame explains the typical steps taken through prostate cancer care and how the team members can vary for localized prostate cancer versus advanced prostate cancer. 

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Transcript:

Sherea Cary: 

What does a multi-discipline approach to prostate cancer look like?  

Dr. Nyame: 

Well, when you think about prostate cancer and how it’s diagnosed and how it’s treated, you’re talking about a process that involves a team, the process often starts with your primary care physician, he or she may order a PSA test, which will prompt a biopsy if it’s positive. So that’s the step one is that relationship you have with your primary care physician. Step two is going to be your urologist, that’s the person that’s going to do your biopsy, and if you are diagnosed with prostate cancer that person in conjunction with your primary care physician is then going to be leading this process of do we actively watch your cancer because it’s a low risk, or do we seek treatment because it’s localized, meaning it’s in the prostate and we can still get your treatment with curative intent as we call it, or has it spread? And in that case, your options for a doctor are different on the watch side, you’re probably looking at a urologist who’s watching closely, on the localized side, you’re going to talk to maybe a radiation specialist or a urologist, because both treatments are equal and their effectiveness from cancer treatment.  

But they have different side effects. And I think to get good information about what treatment is best for you, you should see both, and then on the advanced side, you’re talking about a medical oncologist that’s going to help navigate all of the various treatments that we have now for stage IV prostate cancer, and even in that setting, you might still find yourself considering a clinical trial with someone like a urologist or getting radiation treatment, which can be standard of care in select patients that have stage IV cancer. So, as you can see, it is a very wide range of individuals that are helping take care of your cancer, and that’s just on the treatment side, that’s not talking about any of the other supportive services that you may need that may exist either in your community or in your health systems where you’re getting treated. And those can include patient navigators, social workers, the various nursing services, nutritionists, there are a lot of people that you may want to put on your team as you’re considering your care.  

Will Telemedicine Improve My Quality of Life with CLL?

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Will Telemedicine Improve My Quality of Life with CLL? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

How do chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients and care partners feel about the impact of telemedicine on quality of life? Watch as a CLL patient and care partner, Bob and Susan, discuss how easier access to blood test results affects patient emotions before and during remote office visits.

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Transcript:

Susan Bottega: 

The role of telemed in terms of survivorship I think is a very, very interesting subject. CLL patients are living a very long life these days with the onset of the novel agents that are coming out. Quality of life becomes a very, very important subject for CLL patients. So much of their quality of life is diminished by the visits that they have to make into doctors’ offices.

The anguish that they spend the day before, the sleepless night that accompanies the doctor’s visit. I think that this is extremely important. You’re looking very possibly of at least two days taken out of your life, and if you’re making these visits on a monthly basis or bi-monthly basis or even tri-monthly basis, that’s a long period of time to take out of the span of your lifetime. And as we’re living longer, this becomes more and more important.

You want to have that quality of life, you want to be able to go on vacations. Your vacations can’t be postponed because you have a doctor’s appointment looming in the future. You can take your computer right along on vacation with you and share your vacation with your doctor.

Bob Bottega:

I like that.

Susan Bottega:

I think the anguish that you feel about blood tests is diminished by it. You don’t have to wait to get the results of your blood tests, your blood tests pop right up on your patient portal. You don’t have to sit there and wait in a doctor’s office until you see those results.

Once you see your doctor, you’ve already got your results and you’re calm about it, you’re relaxed because you know what the results are and you can discuss them without having to deal with the anxiety that comes with hearing, “Okay, my white blood cell count has gone up considerably, so how do I calm myself down to discuss this intelligently at this point in time when I’m emotionally so upset over it?” I think these are very, very important things about the quality of your life. How about you, Bob?

Bob Bottega:

I think you said it all.

Susan Bottega:

Don’t I always? (laughter)

How Often Should You See Your MPN Doctor?

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How Often Should You See Your MPN Doctor? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Dr. Laura Michaelis discusses how frequently patients with essential thrombocythemia (ET), polycythemia vera (PV) and myelofibrosis (MF) should visit their doctor. 

Dr. Laura Michaelis is hematologist specializing in myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) at Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin, where she also serves as Associate Professor of Medicine. Learn more about Dr. Michaelis here.

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Transcript:

Dr. Michaelis:             

So, the regular follow-up for myeloproliferative neoplasms, whether that is somebody with ET, PV, or myelofibrosis, is incredibly variable. It depends on the risk stratification. It depends on how frequently you’re needing intervention.

For example, somebody with low-risk polycythemia vera whose hematocrit is elevated and gets a phlebotomy – that person I follow relatively frequently.

Maybe every month or so until I know for sure that the phlebotomy frequency, the number of times we are removing blood, and the frequency, the rate at which that happens, is adequate to ensure that that person is not spending too much time with a hematocrit of over 45 percent.

We know that because randomized trials have shown that a hematocrit over 45 percent leads to an increased risk for bad clinical outcomes.

So, early on in that person’s trajectory, I might check their blood counts more often. Once I know that they are stable and can go longer periods of time, we can relax that out. And that may happen, for example, when they become iron deficient, and the need for phlebotomies decreases.

In somebody with essential thrombocythemia that’s well controlled, again, one might do blood counts every three months or maybe, if things are very stable, every six months.

This is something that I usually make sure that I’m following the national guidelines on and that I adjust from a patient standpoint. If somebody is seeing their PCP in three months and getting blood counts, and things have been stable, then there’s no reason to see more frequently.

Now, when do I see people more frequently? For example, if they’ve started a new treatment, and we want to make sure that their kidneys and liver are doing okay. If I’ve noticed a change in one of their organ functions on the basis of something and do a little tweaking of their medicines, then I might see them more frequently.

So, again, there’s no set-in stone. This is part of the art of medicine, and you wanna talk with your doctor about what you should expect and who’s gonna be following up on the tests that are drawn.

Newly Diagnosed With an MPN? Start Here.

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Newly Diagnosed with an MPN? Start Here. from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

If you’ve been diagnosed with an MPN, such as essential thrombocythemia (ET), polycythemia vera (PV) or myelofibrosis (MF), Dr. Ruben Mesa outlines key steps you should take, including a visit with an MPN specialist.

Dr. Ruben Mesa is an international expert in the research and care of patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs). He serves as director of UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center in San Antonio, Texas. More about this expert here.

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Transcript:

Dr. Ruben Mesa:

Patients who have a Myeloproliferative Neoplasm should consider seeing an MPN specialist at least at some frequency. The myeloproliferative neoplasms are not common illnesses. They’re not exceedingly rare, but they’re not common. And there is many nuances in terms of how we best diagnose the disease; the discussion we have with you regarding what are the treatment plans and goals, and then putting that plan into effect.

So, frequently, there’s a value in seeing someone who focuses on MPNs to help to establish that plan, and then frequently, there is a home physician, hematologist, or medical oncologist that works together along with the specialist in terms of managing the patient.

When patients first come for their visits related to an MPN, they have many questions. You know, they’re not common diseases, and people typically don’t have much experience with them. They’ve not had a family member that’s afflicted or someone at work. So, frequently, it comes on out of the blue. People will frequently, sometimes, go online and get a lot of information, but sometimes too much information; information that may or many not be appropriate for them.

So, there are many questions that are valuable, and I always advise patients to write down their questions ahead of time because sometimes in the heat of the moment, having a conversation, particularly with a new physician or provider, those questions may not, necessarily, be top of mind for them. So, we can go through those questions clearly.

I think key questions, I wouldn’t limit it to one key question, but I’d say I would put them in categories. 1.) Truly understanding the diagnosis; what’s the actual diagnosis that that patient has. 2.) What does the physician think are the risks that patient has? With each of the diseases, there are different risk classifications, and that will also help to give patients a frame of reference if they read other information about their disease online from highly reputable sources, or other educational sort of materials.

To understand, what is the recommended treatment plan. The plan may or may not included medications and understand what those medications are intended to do, and what their side effects may be, or what to anticipate.

It may or may not include aspirin, it may or may not include phlebotomy, or it may or may not include other therapies. So, understanding that diagnosis, understanding the risk, and understanding, what is the recommendation in terms of treatment.

Diagnosed With an MPN? Why You Should Consider a Second Opinion.

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Diagnosed With an MPN? Why You Should Consider a Second Opinion. from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo. 

 Physician assistant Lindsey Lyle explains the importance of seeking a second opinion when diagnosed with an MPN.

Lindsey Lyle is a physician assistant at the University of Colorado Cancer Center, specializing in hematological malignancies with a subspecialty in myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs). More about this expert here.

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Transcript:

Lindsey:

When a patient is initially diagnosed with an MPN, seeking a second opinion is generally a very good idea, especially if patients are perhaps in an area where they do not have access to academic medical center.

The reason is that MPNs are such a small percentage of blood cancers – and, blood cancers in and of themselves are very rare, so MPNs are very rare, and especially in rural places, physicians do not have access or experience so much with MPNs. So, especially in those scenarios, I always advise a second opinion.

However, even within the academic medicine world, for example, if a patient is referred to me by their primary care physician or our institution, we always offer patients to seek a second opinion. Really, this is to gather information and either encourage the patient because the recommendation is the same or also to perhaps have a different idea for treatment that may fit the goals of the patient better, and so, I’m always telling patients to seek second opinions.