Charleston, South Carolina – Living with lung cancer frequently means spending more time in waiting rooms than in the moments that matter, but a new South Carolina research effort aims to change that by allowing patients to safely manage more of their treatment from home.
According to the American Cancer Society, lung cancer continues to be the leading cause of cancer deaths in both the United States and South Carolina for men and women.
For many patients, weeks of travel to hospitals or clinics have become a part of the therapy regimen. A project at the University of South Carolina hopes to make the procedure easier by allowing patients to control their therapy from home via a phone-based support program.
For those diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, the topic frequently switches from the likelihood of survival to how much time they have left. According to the Lung Cancer Center, the five-year survival rates for stage IVA and stage IVB are 10% and 0%, respectively.
Targeted therapy has emerged as one of the most effective strategies for increasing quality of life. These drugs, typically taken as pills, target specific abnormalities within cancer cells rather than destroying healthy cells. They are not a cure, but they can help patients feel better, stay active, and stay at home instead of visiting the hospital repeatedly.
However, targeted therapy can result in severe rashes, chronic diarrhea, and other adverse effects that disrupt everyday life. That dilemma inspired Karen Wickersham and her team at the University of South Carolina’s College of Nursing to develop the program, which aims to assist patients notice and control side effects while also allowing them to stay on treatment for longer periods of time.
According to Wickersham, the program is designed to help patients achieve their real-life goals.
“The intent of this intervention is to help them learn how to self-manage those things and communicate with their oncology team so that they’re able to stay on their targeted therapy for as long as it’s working for them,” Wickersham tells me. “Often, people discontinue targeted therapy due to negative effects. So, while taking isn’t difficult, coping with everything else is, and some people will simply give up. They simply won’t tolerate it anymore.”
She explains that each participant has unique hopes and priorities that dictate how her team provides assistance. This contains common milestones that most people take for granted.
“I have worked with individuals who said that their goal was, ‘I just want to go to my grandson’s baseball game in the spring,'” she admits. “These medications can help them attend their grandson’s baseball game. Our goal is for grandparents to attend their grandson’s baseball game safely, including wearing sun protection to prevent a rash and managing diarrhea to fully enjoy the event.
With those goals in mind, Wickersham says her staff strives to assist patients achieve what’s most important to them by making their daily lives easier.
“That’s our intent is to tackle these very specific goals that are important to patients and how can we take those one step further,” according to her.
Although the research is located in Columbia, anyone from all throughout South Carolina are welcome to participate. The pilot program lasts ten weeks and is open to anyone with lung cancer who is taking targeted therapy.
All participants should be aware that not everyone who enrolls will receive the tested treatment, and that some will receive standard care, as is customary in clinical trials.
Those interested in enrolling can contact 803-704-4659 for additional information.
