What Are Patients and Caregivers Talking About? Lung Cancer Biomarkers By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH Since the FDA approved the first targeted treatment for NSCLC in 2003, treatment decisions for NSCLC are increasingly made based on individual genomics.1,2 There are now 20 distinct biomarkers that serve as identification points differentiating cancer cells [...]
Engaging with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients and Caregivers By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH The word “Earth” doesn’t reflect the complexity and diversity of the planet. Similarly, the term “lung cancer” only identifies the location of the cancer. There are two general categories, non-small cell lung cancer [...]
Menaced by COVID-19, Susceptible Individuals Counter with Vaccine Acceptance By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH “The sickest I've ever been!" wrote a participant in Inspire’s COVID-19 HealthJourney survey about surviving COVID-19. Another went into greater detail when asked to share their COVID-19 story. I’ve had systemic lupus (SLE) and Discoid Lupus for 25 [...]
COVID-19 vaccine and vulnerable populations: Over 26K participate in ongoing longitudinal study By Richard Tsai Crowd-sourcing info for a friend: have any of you who have lupus SLE and/or discoid taken the vaccine? Which one? What were your side effects? Thanks for sharing. — Brittney Cooper (@ProfessorCrunk) March 9, 2021 COVID-19 vaccines [...]
Where Do You Start When Searching for Exceptional Responders? By Richard Tsai Before 2012, if a cancer clinical trial had only one successful remission amid a field of failures, the drug under trial was thought to be unsuccessful. We weren’t asking a key question: What made it work for that one participant? [...]
Good News about Lung Cancer? Thanks to Bench Science and Pharma By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH Targeted therapies, monoclonal antibodies, and immune checkpoint inhibitors are the good news - making a significant difference in lung cancer mortality, a new study states. Published in The New England Journal of Medicine, the report said, [...]
What Do Patients and Caregivers Know about Immunotherapy? Inspire’s Immunotherapy Awareness and Perceptions Survey According to a 2012 study, patient activation means “having the knowledge, skills, and confidence to manage one’s health.” The study confirmed that better health outcomes are typically associated with greater patient knowledge and activation.1 As the field of [...]
Video Vignettes: Through Your Own Lens - Dealing With Side Effects You wouldn’t think that someone could speak with delight about an experience with diarrhea. Yet when Amy,* a lung cancer patient, speaks about her search for help with “horrific diarrhea” in the video below, she sounds happy. Her relief at finding [...]
