Key points from today’s guests:

Morning Rounds – Updates on the Latest News

Dr. Ronald Chen, chair, Radiation Oncology, The University of Kansas Cancer Center

• We have more than 20 representatives from The University of Kansas Cancer Center at the largest radiation conference in the world.
• This is a conference where we can learn about the latest advances in radiation oncology and cancer treatment.
• There are 10,000 experts attending this conference each year.
• We have at least 12 presentations that are sharing results of our research in head and neck cancer, prostate cancer, and looking at needs of cancer survivors. We are also presenting on root therapy and our proton therapy program.
• One of the biggest presentations highlights the six treatment options for prostate cancer if it comes back.
• Another popular presentation is around the use of radiation for kidney cancer.
• This conference matters to patients because cancer treatment is always changing, always getting better. It’s important to know your doctors are staying on top of the latest treatment advances so you can have the best outcome possible.

Focus Topic

Lindsey Durgan, living with cervical cancer

• The day after her 36th birthday, she got the call that she had cervical cancer.
• She received pelvic radiation, chemotherapy, and other therapy at The University of Kansas Cancer Center, but despite her treatment, the cancer still metastasized, spreading to her uterus and liver.
• She is going through maintenance chemo every three weeks and the treatment is going well.
• It was reassuring to have her mom go through this journey with her as she kept things very positive.

Terri Durgan

• After Lindsey was diagnosed with cancer, her mom Terry was diagnosed with breast cancer a second time.
• She is undergoing a combination of chemo and medication to battle the breast cancer.
• Terri is thankful for her family and friends who continue to provide needed support.
• She said it is so important to have caring people around you and to stop and enjoy the present.

Dr. Priyanka Sharma, breast medical oncologist; Drug Discovery, Delivery, and Experimental Therapeutics, The University of Kansas Cancer Center

• A stage 4 cancer diagnosis means the cancer has spread outside of the organ that it started in.
• We have such better treatments now than we had a decade ago.
• Many cancers are treated with a combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Right now, immunotherapy is available and approved for many different types of cancers.
• In spite of stage 4 cancer, available drugs and treatments have provided control of the disease.
• Genetic mutations can be associated with breast, ovarian, colon, and other types of cancers. Environmental factors are much harder to study.
• Cancer cells can stay dormant in the body, even after treatment.
• The research is constantly looking at improving the initial treatment so we don’t have cancer coming back.
• It takes a team and a village to treat cancer and we’re very happy to have that at our NCI-designated cancer center.

Wednesday, Oct. 2 at 8 a.m. is the next Open Mics with Dr. Stites. Women of color face worse survival rates for breast cancer and it is time to ask why. Hear from a woman who beat the odds.

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