When employing immunotherapies, oncologists must be vigilant in spotting any adverse events and calling in their colleagues, like dermatologists or pulmonologists, to help manage these toxicities, according to Matthew Gubens, MD, MS, assistant clinical professor of thoracic oncology at the University of California, San Francisco.
When employing immunotherapies, oncologists must be vigilant in spotting any adverse events and calling in their colleagues, like dermatologists or pulmonologists, to help manage these toxicities, according to Matthew Gubens, MD, MS, assistant clinical professor of thoracic oncology at the University of California, San Francisco.
Transcript (slightly modified)
What are some of the toxicity concerns with immunotherapy and how can they be managed?
One of the exciting things about oncology is we’re such a multidisciplinary field. We’re really used to working in tumor boards, medical oncology, surgical oncology, pathology, radiology. These drugs are really forcing us to look even further abroad. We’re really looking at working with our endocrinologists, our pulmonologists, our rheumatologists, because some of these immune adverse events [AEs] are really coming to the fore, things that oncologists haven’t had to deal with medically.
I think there are 2 questions. One is, for patient selection for these agents, can you give these drugs to patients who have autoimmune disease, and we’re trying to suss that out. Folks who have long-standing hypothyroidism, not a problem. Patients with active ulcerative colitis, certainly we can’t use them.
But then of course the question is, after they’ve been treated, how do we handle that? First and foremost, it’s just recognition, anticipation and recognition. Certainly we do thyroid function tests very regularly throughout the course of treatment. We’re very attuned to changes in oxygenation that may portend pneumonitis, and then we’re really quick to, when we see those kind of changes, engaging our colleagues. So if there’s a rash, we have dermatologists who are savvy about these and help us to manage them.
Really, the name of the game is making sure we handle these AEs so that patients who are benefiting can continue to benefit and not have the morbidity or even mortality of some of these side effects.
A Focus on Women: AUA Best Posters Highlight Female Athletes, Prenatal Care, and Women in Urology
May 9th 2024Three posters from the American Urological Association (AUA) 2024 Annual Meeting focused on urinary incontinence in female athletes, prenatal care for fetuses with spina bifida in California, and the experiences of women residents at the Brady Urological Institute.
Read More
Examining Low-Value Cancer Care Trends Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic
April 25th 2024On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with the authors of a study published in the April 2024 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® about their findings on the rates of low-value cancer care services throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Listen
The Joint Commission is launching the Rural Health Clinic Accreditation Program to standardize staff training and patient care practices at rural health clinics nationwide; the American Cancer Society recently launched the largest-ever study of cancer risk and outcomes in Black women; the HHS COVID-19 vaccination campaign saved $732 billion by preventing illness and related costs.
Read More
Oncology Onward: A Conversation With Penn Medicine's Dr Justin Bekelman
December 19th 2023Justin Bekelman, MD, director of the Penn Center for Cancer Care Innovation, sat with our hosts Emeline Aviki, MD, MBA, and Stephen Schleicher, MD, MBA, for our final episode of 2023 to discuss the importance of collaboration between academic medicine and community oncology and testing innovative cancer care delivery in these settings.
Listen