Potential Side Effects of Immunotherapy in Head and Neck Cancer
Introduction Currently, two immunotherapy medications, Nivolumab (Opdivo) and Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) are approved in the USA for recurrent and or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck (HNSCC) after a patient received and failed “platinum” based chemotherapy. Both Nivolumab and Pembrolizumab belong to a class of immunotherapy medications called checkpoint inhibitors, specifically they are anti-PD-1 […]
Why Are Clinical Trials Important?
Clinical trials are a key research tool for advancing medical knowledge and patient care. Clinical research is done only if doctors do not know whether a new approach works well in people and is safe and which treatments or strategies work best for certain illnesses or groups of people. In cancer of the head and […]
Cure is Not Enough: Why Survivorship Matters for Head and Neck Cancer Patients
What is cancer survivorship? Survivorship focuses on the health and life of a person with cancer from initiation of treatment until the end of life. It covers the physical, psychosocial and economic issues of cancer, beyond the diagnosis and treatment phases. Survivorship encompasses considerations related to the ability to obtain health care and follow-up treatment, […]
Head and Neck Cancer Survivorship Part II: Other Essentials
We’re back! We’d like to expand on our survivorship topics from September’s newsletter and highlight more survivorship challenges for head and neck cancer patients. We appreciate the feedback and insight from our part I article. We know that many survivors are affected physically, psychosocially, spiritually, and financially. Here are 5 additional topics of consideration in […]