To provide the information your oncologist is not telling you or doesn't have the time to!
What every patient and caregiver should know when dealing with cancer in regards to the diagnosis, staging, prognosis, treatment options, and surveillance. My hope is that you will feel more empowered in your own care and discussion with your treating physician team. I will eventually add more information over time with a brief summary of each tumor type as well. If you do not see your tumor type listed below, please give me time to add. The site is young, just started January 2023. Please send me questions, comments and feedback on how I can make the site better at the contact page.
In the meantime, use the NCCN guidelines, American Cancer Society, and clinical trials.gov.
As a medical oncologist, I’m often asked by patients about radiation therapy. When is the best time to consider it? What is the best type of radiation therapy to be given? Why can’t we treat all sites of metastatic disease? The question of using radiotherapy will depend on many factors, such as cancer types, biology, …
How do we know if treatment is working in patients dealing with solid tumors? Clinically, we like to see symptom improvement over time. If there is a tumor causing pain, swelling, obstruction, then over time we like to see improvement of these symptoms while on treatment. We like to see patients come off their nausea …
A tumor board is a meeting where a team of healthcare professionals and ancillary providers, including medical, radiation oncologists, radiologists, surgeons, interventionalist, and pathologists, come together to discuss the treatment plan for a patient with cancer. Nurses, extenders, navigators, pharmacists, palliative care, research, hospitalist, students, residents, fellows, nutritionists, and many other folks can participate depending …
Previously I discussed the advantages of participating in a clinical trial however it is also important to educate the public on all aspects of clinical trials, including both the potential drawbacks. Here are seven key bullet points on the disadvantages of participating in a clinical trial: Time commitment Clinical trials often require a significant amount of time …
As an oncologist, I have seen the importance of using circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) analysis in cancer diagnosis and treatment. ctDNA is a simple blood test that can provide valuable information about a patient’s cancer, making it a valuable tool in the fight against this disease. Signatera is a technology developed by Natera that uses tumor-informed …
Cancer can be a scary thing, but did you know that there is a way for you to take part in the fight against cancer? It’s called participating in a clinical trial. Clinical trials are research studies that test new ways to prevent, detect, or treat diseases. If you or a loved one has cancer, …
As a physician, it is important to communicate complex medical concepts in a way that is easy to understand for patients. When patients are diagnosed and are undergoing treatment a common question I get is “how do we know the treatment is working”? My crystal ball does not work very well, and I tell my …
As a newly diagnosed cancer patient, the thought of treatment can be overwhelming. It’s important to understand the different options available to you so that you can make informed decisions about your care. Here’s a quick rundown of the most common types of cancer treatment: Surgery: Surgery is a procedure in which a doctor removes …
Prognosis is a medical term that refers to the expected outcome of a disease, such as cancer. It’s a way for doctors to estimate how the disease may progress and what treatment options may be most effective. It’s important to understand that a prognosis is not a definite outcome. It’s an estimate based on many …
Cancer is a scary and overwhelming diagnosis, and one of the first steps in the treatment process is staging. Staging is the process of determining how much cancer is in a person’s body and where it is located. It helps doctors determine the best treatment options for each patient, and can also be used to …