Actually, Many New Cancer Drugs May Be Helpful And Worth Trying
Perhaps the literature fails to capture the clinical value of oncology drugs. This could happen for several reasons.
writer, health care advocate, physician
Perhaps the literature fails to capture the clinical value of oncology drugs. This could happen for several reasons.
My enthusiasm for this new drug, Stivarga, is tempered by the low response rate and toxicity.
It’s the kind of problem a person who’s had cancer, or a doctor who’s prescribed generally helpful treatment, may not want to think about.
Carr’s story highlights the need for improved survivorship care. As his recent autopsy disclosed, he died with an aggressive form of lung cancer and heart disease.
Employment and money concerns haunt many people with all kinds of cancer, nation-wide, during and after treatment.
Chemotherapy treatments for early-stage breast cancer vary widely in their possible side effects. But few newly-diagnosed patients press their oncologists about those differences.
The words we use matter enormously, not just in clinical outcomes, but in how people with cancer feel about the decisions they’ve made, years later.
This kind of paternalism, when a doctor assesses the risks and benefits, and spares the patient’s “knowing” seems anachronistic. But it may, still, be what many people are looking for when and if they get a serious illness.
Few cancer patients take notes on chemo dose options and potential long-term side effects.