{"id":352,"date":"2015-03-02T20:59:43","date_gmt":"2015-03-02T20:59:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stories.kera.org\/after-cancer\/?p=352"},"modified":"2015-04-06T18:47:31","modified_gmt":"2015-04-06T18:47:31","slug":"what-doctors-say-about-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/after-cancer\/2015\/03\/02\/what-doctors-say-about-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"What Doctors Say About Cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Promise Of Immunotherapy<\/h3>\n

For decades, standard cancer treatments have been surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. In the last few years, though, something called immunotherapy has shown promise \u2013 especially for children. The therapy engineers patients\u2019 own immune cells to treat their cancer. <\/em><\/p>\n

Dr. Ted Laetsch, an assistant professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center, researches novel therapeutics for childhood cancer.<\/p>\n

What is immunotherapy? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cImmunotherapy is really trying to turn your body\u2019s immune system against the cancer. So normally one of the functions of the immune system, in addition to fighting infections, is to watch out for cancer development in your body and attack it. We actually think most of us get some pre-cancerous cells very frequently and our immune system takes care of them and we never know about them. But when cancer develops, the cancer has learned how to escape the immune system. So immunotherapy is trying to teach your body back how to have its immune system fight off the cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dr.

Dr. Ted Laetsch is a researcher at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Photo\/Courtesy UT Southwestern<\/p><\/div>\n

Would Immunotherapy replace traditional therapies, like chemotherapy or radiation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cRight now immunotherapy is for those kids whose cancer don\u2019t respond to standard chemotherapy. It may be in the future we\u2019re able to move this forward and we\u2019re able to replace some of the chemotherapy and reduce some of the side effects.\u201d<\/p>\n

What does genetic sequencing have to do with treating cancer? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea behind looking at the genome of a patient\u2019s cancer is that every one of your cells have DNA, but there are mutations in those DNA that cause your cell to become cancerous. So by looking at the specific mutations that are developing in the cancer we can identify what may have caused the cancer and therefore specifically treat that cause, rather than giving chemotherapy that kills every cell indiscriminately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Has genetic sequencing helped create treatments for childhood cancer? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSome childhood leukemias are caused by a mutation of what we call a Philadelphia chromosome. These leukemias [with] the Philadelphia chromosome have an abnormal gene that\u2019s expressed \u2026 and that gene causes the cell to grow and become cancerous. We have a drug now that can specifically block that gene, specifically block that mutation. And when we\u2019ve given that to kids with Philadelphia chromosome, we\u2019ve improved their survival from about 10 percent to over 70 percent. So we\u2019ve revolutionized the care of those patients.\u201d<\/p>\n

Listen To The Conversation With Dr. Laetsch<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Cancer\u2019s Toll On A Kid<\/h3>\n

Cancer can take a toll on a kid\u2019s physical health, but there are psychological effects, too. Many survivors experience anxiety, while some suffer from post-traumatic stress. <\/em><\/p>\n

Dr. Shannon Poppito is a psycho-oncologist who works with patients who\u2019ve recovered from cancer at Baylor\u2019s Sammons Cancer Center. Poppito says children often experience cancer differently than adults and teens.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018There\u2019s this hypervigilance\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cFour- and 5-year-olds are not going to take up cancer the same way as a 7, 8, 9, 10-year-old,\u201d Poppito said. \u201cBecause the developmental shifts that are occurring in their bodies, in their brains, are shifting. These little kiddos, they\u2019re just exploring the world for the first time. They\u2019ll understand cancer as not feeling very well and not being happy that they can\u2019t go out to play. \u2026 But they look to their parents \u2013 if they\u2019re angry, if they\u2019re sad, if they\u2019re nervous. They take on whatever the parents are experiencing of their cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dr.

Dr. Shannon Poppito Photo\/Courtesy Baylor Scott & White<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThere is something about having cancer that is ever present in your mind, that once you\u2019ve overcome the cancer, you want to make sure you are doing everything in your power,\u201d Poppito said. \u201cSo there\u2019s this hypervigilance, this control to make sure that you\u2019re doing everything to take care of yourself. Parents should just be aware of if the fears of contamination start affecting a child\u2019s functioning. Preemptively, perhaps, have a child go see a psychologist \u2026 because, as a psycho-oncologist, I see patients that struggled with cancer at 5 years old that will come to me in their 20s having not worked through these fears of contamination and now it has become debilitating, and now they struggle with obsessive-compulsive disorder or they struggle with issues that were left unattended.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teenagers and cancer<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cTeenagers will experience cancer, maybe some similarities to an 8 or 10-year-old, but different in the fact that stress will trigger a stress hormone called cortisol,\u201d Poppito says. \u201cCortisol then, working together with estrogen, which females are having course through their bodies as a teenager, will spike this traumatic stress even more. On top of that, we have identity issues. So she\u2019s trying to find her own sense of identity in the world. All of these bio-psycho-social underpinnings will impact how cancer develops this post-traumatic stress in the body, the mind and the spirit of a teenager.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018A sense of resiliency\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I want to underscore is not only the post-traumatic stress, but also the post-traumatic growth that occurs in patients who have cancer, especially in teen years. They\u2019ve learned a sense of resiliency, a sense of overcoming, their sense of identity becomes stronger. \u2026 I don\u2019t think we have enough literature out there on post-traumatic growth \u2014 that you can learn something from the cancer you can learn how to make it meaningful and purposeful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Listen To The Conversation With Dr. Poppito <\/strong><\/p>\nhttp:\/\/stories.kera.org\/after-cancer\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2015\/03\/Psychology-of-Cancer-2-way-Dr-Shannon-Poppito-mp3.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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