Heloisa Soares, MD, assistant professor, University of New Mexico Cancer Center-Albuquerque, discusses the importance of treating neuroendocrine tumors with a multidisciplinary team, as well as the importance of engaging patients and their families in their care.
Heloisa Soares, MD, assistant professor, University of New Mexico Cancer Center-Albuquerque, discusses the importance of treating neuroendocrine tumors with a multidisciplinary team, as well as the importance of engaging patients and their families in their care.
TranscriptWhy is it important to treat neuroendocrine tumors with a multidisciplinary team?
I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to have a multidisciplinary team for neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). You have to have a NET-focused pathologist to review the slides of the patient, because often, the diagnosis can change slightly. When we have a pathologist reviewing that that specializes in NETs, then you have to have a good radiologist helping to read the films.
Then, you have to have your surgeon or surgical oncologist looking and evaluating the patient with you, because even in the setting of stage 4 disease or metastatic disease, we can still offer surgery to these patients in many occasions. They surgeries can even be a curative intent in putting the patients in remission for a very long time, or it could be offered to improve the quality of life, because some of these patients are so symptomatic that the bulking of the disease can make wonders for the quality of life.
We also have to have a nuclear medicine physician with us because now with the upcoming use of peptide receptor radionuclide therapy, you know, our colleagues from nuclear medicine are extremely essential for the treatment of NETs. We have to have the help our endocrinologist to help with some of the issues that come with having a NET patient. I haven’t even mentioned the fact that we need the help of the gastroenterologist to diagnosis the disease, because sometimes we have to do 2 endoscopy procedures, but also with helping managing some of the most challenging issues of these patients, including diarrhea, for example.
So, these are just a few examples of how a patient with NETs should be taken care of by a multidisciplinary team.
How important is it to engage patients and their families in their care so that they understand their treatment and their diagnosis?
So, it’s very important to educate patients and their families in terms of the new diagnosis of NETs. When patients come to the clinic to me, I typically explain what a NET is. I try to make the comparison, to some extent, I compare the Steve Jobs pancreatic cancer versus the Patrick Swayze pancreatic cancer. That gives a sort of visual understanding of the difference between both diseases.
I try to explain the natural history of the disease as much as the capability of the patient to understand the differences. And then I also redirect patients to reliable sources of information that we have on the internet, from the different NET organization that we have with the Carcinoid Foundation, we have the Healing NET Foundation. The NET Research Foundation also has some information for patients. I think all of these are very important. There’s also amazing supportive group organizations out there. They are extremely reliable and supportive to patients, so I tend to direct my patients to these type of organizations as well.
ATS 2024: Bridging the Past, Present, and Future of Respiratory Care
May 16th 2024The application of artificial intelligence in medicine is anticipated as a highlight of ATS 2024, with sessions exploring its applications in research, radiological interpretation, and pediatric pulmonology.
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
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
Posters Characterize DMD Caregiver Experiences, Impact of Gene Therapy on Caregiving Demands
May 10th 2024Posters presented at the ISPOR—The Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research meeting explored Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) caregiver experiences and gene therapy’s impact on work opportunities for caregivers.
Read More