The Aptium Forum

By Jo Maranan, Aptium Oncology

After the fundraising walks are over and the pink ribbons are tucked away for next year’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month events, one hard truth lingers: there is scant data on the long-term issues that survivors face after their treatment ends.

By Timothy G. Tyler, PharmD, FCSHP

Director, Pharmacy Services, Comprehensive Cancer Center at Desert Regional Medical Center, Palm Springs, CA

Breast Cancer Awareness Month is a good time to celebrate the advances in breast cancer diagnosis and treatment that have driven survivorship rates to levels not seen before.

This significant decline in mortality rates owes as much to pharmacology as it does to early screening and diagnosis.Central to these advances is the development of numerous drugs in recent years. Groundbreaking treatments have transformed breast cancer from the death knell it once was to a disease that can be managed for many years.

Potential drug interactions in metastatic breast cancer patients

But a significant issue has emerged in this otherwise hopeful landscape. The same pharmacological advances increase the potential for drug interactions, adding a layer of complexity when attempting to customize regimens for individual patients. In fact, an estimated 20-30% of adverse drug reactions result from drug interactions. Patients receiving multiple drug regimens are particularly at risk. Although commonly thought to occur between two pharmacological agents, drug interactions may involve concurrent prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, excipients used in drugs, herbal medications, food products or environmental factors like cigarette smoke.

By Erica Otersen, Intern, Trinitas Comprehensive Cancer Center

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Aptium Forum honors Shannon McGinn, a breast cancer survivor who now educates and helps others in their fight against cancer at the Trinitas Comprehensive Cancer Center.

In 2005, Shannon McGinn was a law student at the University of Miami when she got the devastating news. She had breast cancer. At 29, she was a vibrant woman and by all appearances had a full, exciting life ahead of her. Four years earlier, she had graduated from New York University with an MA in Art Therapy and was working as a therapist when she thought she might be able to do more for patients with a law degree. The cancer diagnosis left her reeling, and her goal of becoming a lawyer became a weak, flickering light in the distance.

By Jo Maranan, Aptium Oncology

With ACOs and health reform mandates looming, physician alignment has taken on greater urgency as hospital executives recruit oncologists based on the premise that clinical integration is the key to achieving performance improvement and cost savings.

By Jo Maranan, Aptium Oncology

With the projected increase in cancer incidence and survival rates in the next decade, statistics point to cancer care as one of the largest growth opportunities in the health care market. But as providers jump in the bandwagon to develop their oncology service lines, it makes sense to look at strategies that will deliver a strong and sustainable competitive edge in a crowded marketplace.

Newly published research finds that those who worked at the World Trade Center are more likely to get cancer

By Jo Maranan, Aptium Oncology

As the world commemorates the 10^th anniversary of 9/11 and reflects on the events that forever changed U.S. history, the memories and images still haunt us.  On this day, amid the thick pall of smoke and jet fuel fumes, first responders navigated their way through the burning debris of collapsed buildings and pulverized glass.

Now an issue threatens to further cloud the cruel legacy of a terrorist attack on an unsuspecting nation. An article in the Wall Street Journal by Devlin Barrett and Nikki Waller states that firefighters who worked at Ground Zero are 19% more likely to have cancer than their colleagues who did not work at the site.  This is the finding from research published in the special 9/11 issue of the Lancet, the world's leading general medical journal and specialty journals
in Oncology, Neurology and Infectious Diseases.

By Jo Maranan, Aptium Oncology

A cancer diagnosis can open a floodgate of fear, anger and an overwhelming sense of helplessness. Beyond this, the uncertainty of how to navigate the maze of information, questions, complex treatment decisions, appointments and other issues can leave a patient reeling from the life-changing nature of the disease.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal by Laura Landro highlights the role of the patient navigator in helping steer patients through this medical-system maze.  Designed primarily for care coordination, patient navigation is a growing field in cancer care that now encompasses a wide spectrum of support services.

By Jo Maranan, Aptium Oncology

All health care providers are striving for successful outcomes for their patients.  While cancer continues to claim many lives, there is no doubt that we are getting better every day at treating cancer and have made measurable headway in diagnosing and treating many cancers at much earlier stages, resulting in improved outcomes and survival.  Great news, right? But here’s the rub: this is the news that is keeping hospital executives awake at night. With a predicted 38% increase in cancer incidence in the next 10 years, providers are facing the significant challenge of preparing for rising demand while addressing the critical issues that impact development of a successful cancer center, including:

Perhaps no other condition triggers more grief, anger and an overwhelming sense of helplessness than cancer. Because while research has yielded treatments that have enabled cancer patients to live longer, the latest cancer therapies cannot heal the stress and worries that cancer patients face.

This is why a sustainable survivorship program is increasingly becoming a key indicator in the provision of high-quality cancer care. In fact, while barriers remain in the development, funding, and management of a nationwide standard of cancer survivor care, survivorship care is emerging as a distinct component of the oncology continuum of care.

By Myra Fouts, RN, MSN, OCN, CNAA, Vice President of Medical Affairs, Aptium Oncology, and Natalie Miovski, AIA, LEED AP, Principal, EwingCole

Nurses have always played a critical, front-line role in medicine. Their contributions and service during times of war, famine, disaster and, of course, everyday patient care, are the stuff of legend. But if there’s one role for which they are not widely recognized, it is that of being collaborators in planning and designing healthcare facilities. In fact, nurses are imperative to the design process, as they bring first-hand knowledge and a unique understanding of patients' needs, as well as their own. Designers, architects and health care leaders would do well to include them on their design and space planning teams.