May 29, 2015
Treatment doesn’t
stop when a patient wins his or her battle against cancer.
“Overwhelmingly,
more patients are surviving their cancer,” Austin oncologist Debra Ann Patt,
MD, told Texas Medicine, TMA’s monthly physician
publication. The success of cancer treatments brings new issues to light,
including how physicians — both oncologists, or cancer doctors, and primary
care physicians — can support patients once treatment is over.
That’s where
“survivorship plans” come in.
Survivorship
plans include a summary of the patient’s diagnosis and treatments, as well as a
course of action for screenings, office visits, and lifestyle recommendations.
The goal is to improve the quality of care for cancer survivors and empower
them to care for themselves, live better lives, and reduce the risk of
recurrence.
These plans,
though not as common as they should be, are an important part of any survivor's
aftercare, said Dr. Patt.
Cancer treatment
is tremendously complex, and it can involve a vast array of surgeries,
therapies, and prescriptions.
“At some point,
patients kind of feel like deer in headlights,” Dr. Patt said. When survivors
come out of the whirlwind of treatment, it is imperative that cancer
specialists and primary care physicians coordinate follow-up care and talk to
patients about their survivorship care plan, she said.
The consequences
of cancer and its treatment can exact a toll on survivors. Impaired organ
function, infertility, cosmetic changes, depression, anxiety, and limitations
in mobility, communication, and the ability to think clearly are among the
problems faced by some survivors. Survivorship plans can help patients manage
these after-effects or avoid them completely, according to a 2005 report from the Institute of
Medicine.
Dr. Patt said
survivorship care plans are part of recognizing the whole spectrum of cancer
care and assessment.
“It's really a
paradigm shift in how we think about cancer care,” she said.
For more on
survivorship plans, check out the May issue of Texas Medicine.
TMA is the largest state medical society in the nation,
representing more than 48,000 physician and medical student members. It is
located in Austin and has 110 component county medical societies around the
state. TMA’s key objective since 1853 is to improve the health of all Texans.
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Contact: Brent Annear (512) 370-1381; cell: (512) 656-7320; email: brent.annear[at]texmed[dot]org
Steve Levine (512) 370-1380; Cell: (512)
750-0971; email: steve.levine[at]texmed[dot]org
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