Communication And Support Can Help Patients With Cancer Improve Their Quality of Life During Treatment

Video
Conference|ASCO Genitourinary Symposium

For patients to maintain or improve their quality of life through their cancer treatment, it is pivotal that they communicate with their health care team.

Treatment is one part of the cancer journey that largely shapes a patient’s quality of life. But according to one expert, patients can do other things to not just maintain, but also improve their quality of life while going through cancer and its treatments.

Cristiane Decat Bergerot, of Cettro – Centro de Cancer de Brasilia in Brazil, recently spoke with CURE® about a phase 2 open-label trial comparing the health-related quality of life that patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) experienced when receiving two different starting doses of Lenvima (lenvatinib) in combination with the chemotherapy everolimus. presented at the 2021 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.

The data, which were presented at the 2021 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, found that a higher starting dose of Lenvima improved health-related quality of life compared to a lower dose. But in addition to treatment decisions that are decided upon with their health care providers, Bergerot also noted that there are other ways for patients to maintain or improve their quality of life through cancer treatment.

The answer, according to Bergerot, is communication and support.

“I would say first to give the health care team all the information (they can) about their symptoms and needs,” Bergerot explained. “This will help them to mitigate all the disease burden and also the treatment burden associated with this drug.”

She also noted that by finding other ways to care for themselves, patients can improve their quality of life. “I would also suggest them to get some exercise and also to look for social support, or psychosocial support, if they need, and to take care of themselves as best as they can.”

Transcription:

I would say first to give the health care team all the information (they can) about their symptoms and needs. This will help them to mitigate all the disease burden and also the treatment burden associated with this drug.

I would also suggest them to get some exercise and also to look for social support, or psychosocial support, if they need, and to take care of themselves as best as they can.

Related Videos
Jessica McDade, B.S.N., RN, OCN, in an interview with CURE
For patients with cancer, the ongoing chemotherapy shortage may cause some anxiety as they wonder how they will receive their drugs. However, measuring drugs “down to the minutiae of the milligrams” helped patients receive the drugs they needed, said Alison Tray. Tray is an advanced oncology certified nurse practitioner and current vice president of ambulatory operations at Rutgers Cancer Institute in New Jersey. If patients are concerned about getting their cancer drugs, Tray noted that having “an open conversation” between patients and providers is key. “As a provider and a nurse myself, having that conversation, that reassurance and sharing the information is a two-way conversation,” she said. “So just knowing that we're taking care of you, we're going to make sure that you receive the care that you need is the key takeaway.” In June 2023, many patients were unable to receive certain chemotherapy drugs, such as carboplatin and cisplatin because of an ongoing shortage. By October 2023, experts saw an improvement, although the “ongoing crisis” remained. READ MORE: Patients With Lung Cancer Face Unmet Needs During Drug Shortages “We’re really proud of the work that we could do and achieve that through a critical drug shortage,” Tray said. “None of our patients missed a dose of chemotherapy and we were able to provide that for them.” Tray sat down with CURE® during the 49th Annual Oncology Nursing Society Annual Congress to discuss the ongoing chemo shortage and how patients and care teams approached these challenges. Transcript: Particularly at Hartford HealthCare, when we established this infrastructure, our goal was to make sure that every patient would get the treatment that they need and require, utilizing the data that we have from ASCO guidelines to ensure that we're getting the optimal high-quality standard of care in a timely fashion that we didn't have to delay therapies. So, we were able to do that by going down to the minutiae of the milligrams on hand, particularly when we had a lot of critical drug shortages. So it was really creating that process to really ensure that every patient would get the treatment that they needed. For more news on cancer updates, research and education, don’t forget to subscribe to CURE®’s newsletters here.
Woman with dark brown hair and pink lipstick wearing a light pink blouse with a light brown blazer. Patients should have conversations with their providers about treatments after receiving diagnoses.
Man in a navy suit with a purple tie. Dr. Saby George talks to CURE about how treatment with Opdivo could mitigate disparities in patients with kidney cancer.
Dr. Andrea Apolo in an interview with CURE
Dr. Kim in an interview with CURE
Dr. Nguyen, from Stanford Health, in an interview with CURE
Related Content
Image of the FDA's logo on a blue abstract background.

FDA to Review Injectable Opdivo for All Approved Indications

May 8th 2024
Article

The Food and Drug Administration granted a Biologics License Application for subcutaneous Opdivo for potential approval.

Read More

Image of CURE's Cancer Horizons podcast logo: a white microphone with yellow noise lines. Highlights from the 2024 ASCO gastrointestinal and genitourinary cancer conferences.

Highlights from the Gastrointestinal and Genitourinary Cancer Conferences

January 30th 2024
Podcast

Here are some of the top stories from the recent Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium as well as the Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.

Listen

Image of a doctor holding a graphic of kidneys.

Postsurgical Keytruda Improves Survival in Clear Cell Kidney Cancer

April 18th 2024
Article

For decades, researchers have been seeking a therapy to improve outcomes for patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma who underwent a nephrectomy.

Read More

cancer horizons podcast logo

FDA Approves 3 Treatments, Cancer Vaccine Shows Promise

December 20th 2023
Podcast

The Food and Drug Administration recently approved treatment for some patients with neuroblastoma, kidney cancer and bladder cancer. Elsewhere, a cancer vaccine made headlines for the treatment of patients with melanoma.

Listen

Image of two kidneys.

Race Associated With Kidney Cancer Survival Disparities

March 28th 2024
Article

Across disease stages, Black patients with renal cell carcinoma experience worse survival outcomes than White patients, research has shown.

Read More

Image of a doctor holding an image of kidneys.

Radiotherapy A Noninvasive Option for Patients With Kidney Cancer

March 27th 2024
Article

Patients with inoperable kidney cancer saw significant results in local control and cancer-specific survival with stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy.

Read More