Buenos Aires
Breast Cancer
Symposium

BA-BCS 2024

September 3 – 6, 2024

IFIBYNE Auditorium, FCEN-UBA

 

Syril Pettit

Addressing Cancer Therapy Related Adverse Effects – An Opportunity to Improve Quality of Life and Outcome for Patients

Syril Pettit

Health and Environmental Sciences Institute

The increasing efficacy of cancer therapeutics means that the lifespan of cancer therapy administration is shifting from primarily acute treatment settings to a broad range of chronic treatment and long-term survivorship settings. Chronic therapy-related adverse events (AE) are unintended and often under-acknowledged. However, these effects are not an uncommon outcome of many of these life-saving therapies – as many as 50% of patients experience significant adverse events associated with their treatment. These undesired toxicities can include cardiac, immune, neurologic, muscular, endocrine, reproductive, and other effects that impact quality of life and sometimes lead to increased mortality. In the breast cancer arena, as many as 30% of patients end chemotherapy early because of debilitating side effects of treatment. This presentation will describe research on stakeholder perceptions and priorities relative to treatment-related AEs and ongoing work at the Health and Environmental Sciences Institute to help improve the safety of cancer therapies. To address the gap in funding for and awareness of the impact of treatment AEs on patient quality of life, the nonprofit Health and Environmental Sciences Institute has launched a novel international grant program called Thrive in 2017. Thrive supports novel research that predicts, reduces, or prevents adverse effects of cancer treatment and enhances the ability for cancer patients and survivors to thrive. Impacts of this successful program and future funding opportunities for researchers will be described.