• Center on Health Equity and Access
  • Clinical
  • Health Care Cost
  • Health Care Delivery
  • Insurance
  • Policy
  • Technology
  • Value-Based Care

Raising Awareness for Treating Adult Survivors of Childhood Cancers

Article

Guidelines, such as those developed by the Children's Oncology Group, can prove a useful resource to monitor and/or treat adults who have previously been treated for a pediatric cancer.

General practitioners face a dilemma. In a recent survey (Ann Intern Med. 2014;160:11-17), most reported being unfamiliar with the guidelines and uncomfortable treating adult survivors of childhood cancer; however, they can expect to see more such patients each year as treatments for childhood cancer become increasingly successful.

Several measures can help internists when such patients come into their practice, according to Lisa Diller, MD, chief medical officer of the Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, and founder and director of the David B. Perini Jr. Quality of Life Clinic.

"It's hard," Dr. Diller told Medscape Medical News. "The patient is worried about relapse, and sometimes relapse can present with very common symptoms, such as back pain." Internists can worry about missing an important development and overtest, or miss the red flags raised by the seeming pedestrian nature of some symptoms. Even then, not all back pain is a warning sign, she explained.

Read the article here: http://bit.ly/1yWhnjP

Source: Medscape

Related Videos
Mila Felder, MD, FACEP, emergency physician and vice president for Well-Being for All Teammates, Advocate Health
Shawn Tuma, JD, CIPP/US, cybersecurity and data privacy attorney, Spencer Fane LLP
Judith Alberto, MHA, RPh, BCOP, director of clinical initiatives, Community Oncology Alliance
Mila Felder, MD, FACEP, emergency physician and vice president for Well-Being for All Teammates, Advocate Health
Will Shapiro, vice president of data science, Flatiron Health
Mila Felder, MD, FACEP, emergency physician and vice president for Well-Being for All Teammates, Advocate Health
Mila Felder, MD, FACEP, emergency physician and vice president for Well-Being for All Teammates, Advocate Health
Will Shapiro, vice president of data science, Flatiron Health
Jonathan E. Levitt, Esq, Frier Levitt, LLC
Judy Alberto, MHA, RPh, BCOP, Community Oncology Alliance
Related Content
© 2024 MJH Life Sciences
AJMC®
All rights reserved.