To provide the information your oncologist is not telling you or doesn't have the time to!
I just spent a very busy month on the inpatient medical oncology service and thought I would share some insight about what medical oncologist see and do in-house. Navigating the healthcare system can often feel like a maze, particularly when a loved one is admitted to the hospital and under the care of multiple specialists. …
Myeloproliferative disorders are a group of conditions characterized by overactivity in the bone marrow. Many of these conditions are driven by mutations in the JAK-2 gene (Janus Kinase 2 gene), which plays a crucial role in regulating the growth and production of cells in the bone marrow. While there are other mutations involved, JAK-2 mutations …
Traditional Treatment Approaches for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Lymphomas encompass a diverse group of blood cancers, with various types and treatment approaches depending on factors such as lymphoma subtype, origin, and aggressiveness. One particular lymphoma subtype with unique treatment options is Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Traditionally, in the United States, Hodgkin’s lymphoma has been treated with a chemotherapy combination …
We are currently in an era where we’re shifting from traditional chemotherapies to leveraging the body’s immune system. CAR-T and bispecific antibodies are two innovative approaches to achieve this.
In the realm of oncology trials, we employ a severity rating system known as the Grade scale to assess toxicities. This scale helps us gauge whether a patient should modify or discontinue their treatment. The Grade scale consists of five points, ranging from mild toxicities to life-threatening ones.
Uveal melanoma, a rare and aggressive form of eye cancer, has just witnessed a groundbreaking development in its treatment landscape. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently granted approval to the HEPZATO KIT, an innovative liver-directed therapy that offers new hope to adult patients with uveal melanoma and unresectable hepatic metastases.
The choice to participate in a clinical trial may sound scary or it may sound exciting but if you are considering it, the real question is what happens next? Below I will help you navigate through the process of getting onto a clinical trial by answering some of the questions that I get from patients who are going through this process.
Intratumoral therapies is another class of immunotherapeutics that I often consider especially for folks with limited skin or nodal disease or perhaps deeper oligometastatic disease. I have cutaneous malignancies patients with Melanoma, Cutaneous SCC, Merkel cell and Kaposi sarcomas that have responded to local intratumoral therapies. We’ve seen viral agents like FDA approved TVEC, RP1, …
Myelodysplasia (MDS) is a bone marrow syndrome characterized by the presence of unhealthy (dysplastic) stem cells that displace the healthy ones, disrupting their ability to mature and develop properly. These healthy stem cells are responsible for generating essential components like red blood cells (which transport oxygen), white blood cells (crucial for fighting infections), and platelets (important for clotting). However, the unhealthy cells can suppress the function of the healthy ones, leading to various dysfunctions.
In terms of cancer diagnoses, the more common ones we hear of are cancers such as Leukemia, Lymphoma, melanoma, and breast cancer. But what about Leiomyosarcoma?
Leiomyosarcoma is a rare and aggressive form of cancer that develops in the smooth muscles of the body (i.e. intestines, stomach, uterus, blood vessels).