Key Advances in Cancer Survivorship Toxicity Management

For this episode of The Vitals, Oncology Nursing News® met with Lidia Schapira, MD, FASCO, to discuss key advances in the treatment of toxicities that may present later in cancer survivorship care. 

Schapira is a professor of medicine and director of the Cancer Survivorship Program at Stanford. Schapira specializes in breast cancer with a focus on the psychosocial aspects of cancer care and issues that relate to patient experience and health equity. She recently participated in a poster discussion in the Symptoms and Survivorship track at the 2022 ASCO Annual meeting.

Schapira discusses recent innovation in addressing later toxicities in survivorship care. She highlights the importance of baseline measurements and health equity considerations in clinical practice and underscores the potential effect evolving technologies may have on the treatment landscape.

“The idea that we can [provide] certain interventions that help people with cognitive reframing and psychoeducation—delivered in their own time, without the need of a specialist—[is] very powerful,” Schapira said. “If we add up all the possible physical, psychological, emotional toxicities of cancer treatments, we come up with a large burden, not to even mention the financial hardship that many of the patients endure as well.”