Cancer focus of UAMS group

It sees need for treatments guide, focus on whole patient

Doctors, patients and medical professionals around the nation raised concerns Wednesday about the challenges cancer patients face while navigating a complex health care system.

RELATED ARTICLE

http://www.arkansas…">Biden urges more sharing of cancer studies

A group at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock focused on survivorship and concluded that the main problems with cancer care are the lack of consistency in patient care, a fragmented health care system and a dearth of resources available to patients who feel lost in the system.

The group recommended changes that include establishing a centralized system for patients' medical records, providing patients with a guide for navigating their treatments, and ensuring that cancer patients receive physical and psychological treatments.

"Fear of imminent death is crucial," said Dr. Isaam Makhoul, head of the UAMS oncology division. "We need to provide patients with spiritual, emotional and psychological care from day one."

Makhoul and more than 5,000 cancer patients, health care providers and survivors in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Guam gathered in their local areas to watch a broadcast of Vice President Joe Biden speaking at the Cancer Moonshot Summit at Howard University in Washington. The summit is geared toward promoting faster progress in cancer research and prevention.

Among those participating were about 120 doctors, researchers, survivors and advocates at UAMS' Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute.

The UAMS attendees watched the vice president's speech then broke into group discussions.

Biden, whose son Beau Biden died of brain cancer in May 2015, called on the nation to double the rate at which progress is made in the field. He called for a decade's worth of progress in cancer prevention and treatment to be made within the next five years.

Citing the more than 200 known types of cancer, Biden said there are 14 million new cases of cancer every year in the world and 8.2 million cancer deaths every year. Biden called for faster progress, noting that by 2025 -- with the same rate of progress being made today -- the number of new cancer cases would be 20 million a year and cancer deaths would rise to 11.4 million a year.

One of the biggest impediments to progress, Biden said, is the lack of timeliness in publishing research trial results or the complete omission of reporting -- something that he said is unlawful for researchers who receive funding from the National Institutes for Health and can result in funds being cut.

"We have to change the culture that turns scientists into grant writers, discouraging risk-taking" Biden said. "We need to be sure that research results are available as soon as they are published."

Biden noted that cancer touches everyone -- something with which people participating in the summit at UAMS agree.

Lisa Yarnell, one of seven cancer survivors participating in the summit, said she and her husband have both had cancer and became two of the first patients treated at UAMS' cancer center.

Yarnell was diagnosed 12 years ago with Hodgkin's lymphoma and underwent a stem cell transplant during her cancer care at UAMS.

Now a survivor, Yarnell works as a volunteer with cancer patients in various parts of the hospital and with the American Cancer Society's "Look Good, Feel Better" program.

Yarnell said she was heartened by the summit and its goal of making more progress in fighting the disease.

"I'm very excited the government has decided to get the wonderful, brilliant minds available in the United States together and motivated them towards a cure much faster than they are now," she said.

After Biden's broadcast, summit participants broke into small groups to focus on such areas as research, advocacy, survivorship and philanthropy. The groups were presented with a set of questions and asked to come up with five proposals to better the lives of those dealing with cancer and the professionals guiding them through their health care.

Makhoul led the discussion about survivorship, noting the challenges of access to health care, financial difficulties, and physical and emotional ailments during cancer treatment.

"The first time a patient is told they have cancer, their brains come to a halt," he said. "Cancer is a medical emergency sometimes, but an emotional emergency all the time."

The proposals, along with the other groups' suggestions about research, philanthropy and advocacy will eventually make their way to Washington, D.C., and onto Biden's desk to further the Moonshot's mission of speeding up progress in cancer treatment and prevention.

State Desk on 06/30/2016

Upcoming Events