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A Team-Based Approach to Lung Cancer Treatment

Program: Lung Cancer: Better Care and Treatment Options
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Andrew Schorr:

Dr. Patel, just briefly about these other modalities. You do radiation but you work with a team so we have Dr. Martins and his peers who are medical oncologists specializing in lung cancer. Then we have folks like Dr. Mulligan who are surgeons and this is what they do, thoracic surgery. In the area of surgery now they can do sort of minimally invasive surgery using laparoscope's I guess, and use a video camera to try to, again, cut out the cancer and not damage healthy tissue, right?

Dr. Patel:

Exactly, so again it speaks to the fact that we want to preserve quality of life. We want to get patients as healthy as quickly as possible as well in the end when you are going through this therapy. What they have seen is if patients are appropriate candidates for video assisted therapies surgery, VATS is what we call it for short, then that may be an appropriate option for them because we do know that you may be able to recover from that. I'm definitely not a surgeon, so I'm not the best person to ask that, but the good news is that we have a team-based approach. We all rely on each other for each of our expertise.

Andrew Schorr:

Also, related to targeted drug therapies Dr. Martins I know has done trials related to Avastin that is one of the drugs we've been hearing about. There are others. Knowing which drug therapy is the therapy for you and when and when do these other modalities come into play. As you say, you are talking about this every week as a group.

Dr. Patel:

Exactly. We do sit down at least once a week and go through all of the patients that are controversial, the ones who we have questions on, or the ones that affect multiple specialties. We'll sit down and we'll go through all those patients. We also have a clinic where a number of our specialists, Dr. Wood and Dr. Mulligan who are thoracic surgeons, Dr. Martins, Dr. Carr and Dr. Eaton who are medical oncologists and myself, will see patients so you are able to basically see all of the specialists all in one setting and at the end of it hopefully rendered an opinion so that you know exactly what the next steps are going to be, and you are not waiting for the next appointment and the next appointment and a week later and another week later and what not.

Andrew Schorr:

Great point. Here is a phone number for your department there: 206.598.4100. Again you can go on the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance website and look up Dr. Shilpen Patel who has been our guest today and that is www.Seattlecca.org and you can look up all these specialists. I want to get a comment from Deb Miller who is out there in Yakima. Deb what would you say? You made the trip from Yakima to consult with Dr. Patel. I think you would agree he is a specialist in what you've got when it comes to radiation. What would you say to people who say 'well, I don't know, should I go to that trouble?'

Deb:

You have to be an advocate for your own health. From the moment that I met Dr. Patel I knew that we had made the right decision to travel over to the University of Washington.

Andrew Schorr:

I couldn't agree with you more. Folks, you have to be an advocate. These are complicated issues now, trying to cure lung cancer if we could or give people as great a quality of life as we fight it and have that treatment tailored to you. Deb I wish you all the best. Many motorcycle rides with Tony okay? If I'm somewhere driving along the Yakima Valley highway and I see a Kawasaki Vulcan go by, I'm going to wave because that's you and Tony, and I hope you can be doing that for many years. Thanks for joining us.

Deb:

Thank you very much.

Andrew Schorr:

I meet the neatest people Dr. Patel and you are too. Thank you for being with us and thanks for your dedication to people who are fighting lung cancer. All the best, and lets cure it okay?

Dr. Patel:

That's the plan. Thank you for having me on.

Andrew Schorr:

Thank you. As always folks, knowledge can be the best medicine of all. That's my Sunday sermon. Knowledge can be the best medicine of all. Have a great day. Join us on www.PatientPower.info. Tune in about spinal problems next week, and go Seahawks. We'll see you. Andrew Schorr in Seattle signing off.

Please remember the opinions expressed on Patient Power are not necessarily the views of Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, its medical staff or Patient Power. Our discussions are not a substitute for seeking medical advice or care from your own doctor. That's how you'll get care that's most appropriate for you.

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