For patients with breast cancer, the approach to treatment requires an individualized approach accounting for factors such as genetic risk, symptom management, and more recently, the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this interview, Dr. Valerie Brutus, a breast surgical oncologist at St. Vincent's Medical Center of Hartford HealthCare, discusses strategies for successfully incorporating each of these factors into patients' treatment.
For patients with breast cancer, the approach to treatment requires an individualized approach accounting for factors such as genetic risk, symptom management, and more recently, the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this interview, Dr. Valerie Brutus, a breast surgical oncologist at St. Vincent's Medical Center of Hartford HealthCare, discusses strategies for successfully incorporating each of these factors into patients' treatment.
Oncology Data Advisor™ · Breast Cancer and Pandemic Challenges With Lillie Shockney, RN, BS, MAS, HON-ONN-CG Although the management of breast cancer has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the cancer care team has developed strategies to optimize screening and treatment experiences in spite of these challenges. In this interview, Lillie Shockney, RN, BS, MAS, HON-ONN-CG, Professor of Surgery at Johns Hopkins University and member of the National Breast Cancer Foundation Medical...
This latest interview for Breast Cancer Awareness Month features Erin Prendergast, RN, CBCN®, an oncology nurse navigator and Senior Breast Clinical Coordinator in the Breast Cancer Program at UT Southwestern Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center. Ms. Prendergast explains what she does in her role as an oncology nurse navigator and shares strategies that her team has implemented to ensure that patients with breast cancer receive optimal access to treatment and supportive care during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although the management of breast cancer has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the cancer care team has developed strategies to optimize screening and treatment experiences in spite of these challenges. In this interview, Lillie Shockney, RN, BS, MAS, HON-ONN-CG, Professor of Surgery at Johns Hopkins University and member of the National Breast Cancer Foundation Medical Advisory Council, shares advice advice regarding protocols for undergoing mammograms during the pandemic, including the timing of COVID-19 vaccination.
This latest interview for Breast Cancer Awareness Month features Erin Prendergast, RN, CBCN®, an oncology nurse navigator and Senior Breast Clinical Coordinator in the Breast Cancer Program at UT Southwestern Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center. Ms. Prendergast explains what she does in her role as an oncology nurse navigator and shares strategies that her team has implemented to ensure that patients with breast cancer receive optimal access to treatment and supportive care during the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the Greater Los Angeles Oncology Nursing Society (GLAONS) Oncology Care Summit in Los Angeles, California, Oncology Data Advisor spoke with Tiffany Richards, PhD, ANP-BC, Advanced Practice Nurse at MD Anderson Cancer Center, about strategies for optimizing patient experiences during multiple myeloma treatment. Dr. Richards discusses the challenges of treating patients with multiple myeloma, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, and shares strategies for promoting adherence and optimizing...
According to a new study, patients undergoing surgery for colorectal cancer experienced a low rate of COVID-19 infection during the postoperative period, suggesting that colorectal cancer surgery can be performed with minimal risks during the pandemic. "With the COVID-19 pandemic, the management of patients with cancer has been significantly impacted, from diagnosis to follow-up, leading to a proposal of treatment strategy adaptations," write the investigators of the COVID-GRECCAR study, led by ...
In a study published this past week in JAMA Network Open, Eugene Cone, MD, and colleagues found that a longer time to treatment initiation negatively impacts survival in patients with breast, prostate, colon, and lung cancers, a finding that is particularly relevant with the deferral of treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this interview, Dr. Cone, a clinical fellow in surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, speaks with i3 Health about the significance of these results and shares advice...
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted multiple aspects of oncology, including patient care, research, continuing medical education (CME), and cancer care providers' psychological well-being, according to survey data presented today at the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Virtual Congress 2020. "The ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and ensuing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is challenging cancer care and services worldwide," report the investigators, led by Guy Jerusalem, MD, PhD, Head of Medi...
While patients with cancer are at an increased risk of experiencing poor outcomes from COVID-19, there is significant variability in COVID-19 risk and mortality among patients with different tumor types and demographics such as age and sex, with those with hematologic malignancies facing the highest risk. In this interview with i3 Health, Lennard Lee, DPhil, MRCP, BMBCh, an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham's Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences, discusses the signific...
Among patients with cancer, different tumor types and patient demographics are associated with varying COVID-19 risk and mortality, with patients with hematologic malignancies experiencing the highest susceptibility and poorest outcomes, according to a study recently published in The Lancet Oncology. Patients with cancer have been identified as a subgroup with increased susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. "However, cancer encompasses many different diseases, with a dive...
The stress of having cancer and the physical and financial toll of treatment can be difficult for patients, even under normal circumstances. During the COVID-19 pandemic, patients face additional stressors, including not only the fear of mortality from COVID-19 but also the emotional impact of isolation. This sense of isolation can be present even in patients' cancer care, as many appointments take place through videoconferencing and telephone calls; even when in-person appointmen...
A high proportion of patients with breast cancer report significant delays in cancer care and treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the results of a patient survey now published in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. As the pandemic continues to evolve, the majority of new cancer care guidelines have focused on minimizing the risk of spreading COVID-19 without compromising the outcomes of patients with cancer. However, because delays or interruptions in treatment can negat...
During the COVID-19 pandemic, guidelines from the American Society of Clinical Oncology and other organizations have recommended that cancer screening procedures involving in-person visits, such as mammograms and colonoscopies, be postponed. These delays have contributed to a whopping 46.4% drop in the combined rate of new diagnoses for six cancers. This is the finding of a cross-sectional study, results of which have now been published in a research letter in JAMA Network Open, a...
During the early stages of the pandemic, measures taken to prevent patients with cancer from contracting COVID-19 included limiting hospital attendance and delaying systemic anticancer treatment. "Whilst dictated by the necessary adoption of a precautionary principle in the context of rapidly escalating viral transmission, these measures rested on the assumption of a detrimental effect of cancer and active anticancer therapy on outcomes from SARS-CoV-2 infection," write the authors of a newly pu...
Patients with cancer often have concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic, from which they are potentially at increased danger as a result of their cancer and/or due to immunosuppressive treatments. Mark A. Lewis, MD, Director of Gastrointestinal Oncology at Intermountain Healthcare, Murray, Utah, recently published a perspective piece in The New England Journal of Medicine contemplating the challenges of balancing the necessity of cancer care against the risks of COVID-19. A couple of week...
Patients with cancer face unique challenges in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic: not only do they have an increased risk of contracting COVID-19 in hospital settings, but they also experience more severe clinical outcomes from the disease compared with patients without cancer. In this interview with i3 Health, Miao Liu, MD, PhD, one of the investigators who recently reported these findings in Cancer Discovery, discusses the difficult challenges that patients with cancer face as they continue t...
The COVID-19 pandemic has created multiple challenges to cancer care, ranging from the risk of exposure to novel coronavirus involved in having patients come to the hospital or clinic for treatment to the risks that immunosuppressive cancer treatments––and cancer itself––may pose in making patients more susceptible to COVID-19. How should these risks be balanced against the necessity of life-preserving cancer therapies? Mark A. Lewis, MD, Director of Gastrointestinal Oncology at Intermountain He...