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Healing and Hope in Pediatric Cancer Care

January 27, 2025
00:00
00:00
29:00
  • 00:00Funding for Yale Cancer Answers
  • 00:02is provided by Smilow Cancer
  • 00:04Hospital.
  • 00:06Welcome to Yale Cancer Answers
  • 00:08with the director of the
  • 00:09Yale Cancer Center, doctor Eric
  • 00:11Winer.
  • 00:12Yale Cancer Answers features conversations
  • 00:14with oncologists
  • 00:15and specialists who are on
  • 00:16the forefront of the battle
  • 00:18to fight cancer.
  • 00:19This week, it's a conversation
  • 00:20about the care of pediatric
  • 00:22patients with cancer with doctor
  • 00:23Prasanna Ananth.
  • 00:25Doctor Ananth is an associate
  • 00:26professor of pediatrics and hematology
  • 00:29oncology at the Yale School
  • 00:30of Medicine.
  • 00:31Here's doctor Winer.
  • 00:33Maybe you could just tell
  • 00:35us a little bit about
  • 00:36your background.
  • 00:38Tell us
  • 00:40how you got to where
  • 00:41you are.
  • 00:42I've always been very interested in
  • 00:45the illness experience
  • 00:47and gravitated naturally
  • 00:50from probably high school onwards
  • 00:51towards
  • 00:52working with children. So pediatrics
  • 00:55was a natural fit.
  • 00:57And then as
  • 00:58a final year medical student,
  • 01:00I had a
  • 01:02visiting elective
  • 01:04at Boston Children's Hospital. And
  • 01:06while I was there, I
  • 01:08met my future and longtime
  • 01:10mentor, doctor Joanne Wolf.
  • 01:13And here was a
  • 01:16phenomenal, powerful woman who is
  • 01:19trained as a pediatric
  • 01:20oncologist,
  • 01:21so a cancer specialist, as
  • 01:23well as a pediatric palliative
  • 01:25care doctor.
  • 01:27She founded pretty much
  • 01:29the first palliative care program
  • 01:31in this entire country and
  • 01:34is also a researcher and a
  • 01:38mom of three kids.
  • 01:39And having met her, I
  • 01:41was just really inspired
  • 01:43by the work that she
  • 01:44did, by her
  • 01:46demeanor, her approach,
  • 01:48her passion for the work
  • 01:51that she engaged in, and
  • 01:53just the
  • 01:55intellectual
  • 01:56inquiry as well as the
  • 01:58sort of practical
  • 01:59aspects of pediatric palliative care
  • 02:01research. So that's really sort
  • 02:03of where I derived my
  • 02:04inspiration.
  • 02:05And let me just say, having
  • 02:07been at Dana Farber for
  • 02:09many years,
  • 02:10Joanne was my colleague
  • 02:14for many of those years,
  • 02:15if not all of those
  • 02:16years.
  • 02:20And on some level, she
  • 02:22founded this whole field of
  • 02:24pediatric palliative care, and is an
  • 02:26amazing person who's now the
  • 02:28chair of pediatrics at Mass
  • 02:30General Hospital.
  • 02:37You came to Yale a
  • 02:38number of years ago, and
  • 02:40here you both
  • 02:42spend some time taking care
  • 02:44of kids
  • 02:45and also do research focused
  • 02:48on palliative care.
  • 02:49Let's first
  • 02:51talk about
  • 02:52cancer in children.
  • 02:54Thankfully,
  • 02:55this is not something we
  • 02:56talk about all that often
  • 02:58because, thankfully, it's not very
  • 03:00common. Can you speak to
  • 03:01that a little bit?
  • 03:04As you mentioned, it is
  • 03:06very rare for a child
  • 03:07or an adolescent to
  • 03:10experience cancer.
  • 03:11Probably around
  • 03:13sixteen thousand children and adolescents
  • 03:15are diagnosed with cancer every
  • 03:17year
  • 03:18in the United States.
  • 03:20It's much higher across
  • 03:22the globe, but fortunately in
  • 03:24the United States, we have,
  • 03:27even in rural communities, we
  • 03:28have pretty good access to
  • 03:30medical care for kids with
  • 03:31cancer.
  • 03:33So that
  • 03:35amounts to about one in
  • 03:37every two hundred and sixty children
  • 03:39who might experience cancer in
  • 03:41a given year.
  • 03:42To put that in context, if
  • 03:44you just look at breast
  • 03:45cancer, for example,
  • 03:47it's
  • 03:48far less than ten percent
  • 03:50of the number of breast
  • 03:51cancer cases each year
  • 03:53of all kids with
  • 03:55cancer.
  • 03:56And breast cancer is just one
  • 03:57of many cancers in adults.
  • 04:02Across the country,
  • 04:05access to care seems to
  • 04:06be okay?
  • 04:08Well, in general, it's a
  • 04:10little bit different from treatment
  • 04:12of adult cancers in that we
  • 04:16generally treat childhood cancers at
  • 04:18major cancer centers.
  • 04:21So we do know that
  • 04:23in some
  • 04:24locales, like the state of
  • 04:26California where there's a lot
  • 04:27of rural areas and
  • 04:31very limited access to
  • 04:34large cancer centers,
  • 04:35that there can be gaps
  • 04:37in care.
  • 04:38But what is sort of
  • 04:40different about childhood cancer treatment
  • 04:42is that
  • 04:43it's very standardized.
  • 04:45So we often follow
  • 04:48protocols
  • 04:49according to a big cooperative
  • 04:51clinical trials group, the Children's
  • 04:53Oncology Group.
  • 04:55So for the most part,
  • 04:57pretty much anywhere you go
  • 04:58in the country,
  • 05:00if you're seeing an oncologist
  • 05:01for a childhood onset cancer,
  • 05:04likely you will be offered
  • 05:05treatment according
  • 05:08to the
  • 05:09latest published trial through the
  • 05:11Children's Oncology Group
  • 05:14or based on a new
  • 05:16clinical trial that they're rolling
  • 05:17out.
  • 05:18And are there many kids in clinical
  • 05:20trials?
  • 05:24Yeah, it's nice in that there
  • 05:26is this standardization.
  • 05:28And a lot
  • 05:29of times families that are
  • 05:31newly diagnosed are sort of
  • 05:33panicking,
  • 05:34understandably,
  • 05:35and trying to figure out
  • 05:37where the best place is
  • 05:38to go for care.
  • 05:40And what I
  • 05:41always tell families is that,
  • 05:43for the most part, no
  • 05:44matter where you go in
  • 05:46the country
  • 05:47there will be
  • 05:48differences in terms of the
  • 05:51services that you have access to
  • 05:54and the
  • 05:56types of doctors, the surgeons,
  • 05:57the radiation oncologists, etcetera.
  • 06:00However, the treatment itself
  • 06:02is pretty standard
  • 06:05and there will be very
  • 06:07minimal to no differences
  • 06:08regardless of where you go.
  • 06:12And of the cancers that
  • 06:14occur in children,
  • 06:15what are the most common?
  • 06:17They're very different than
  • 06:19in general adult cancers.
  • 06:22Yeah. So the most common
  • 06:23types of cancers that we
  • 06:25see in kids
  • 06:26and adolescents are leukemias
  • 06:28and lymphomas, so cancers of
  • 06:31blood cells and of lymph
  • 06:33nodes.
  • 06:34And is there a reason
  • 06:36for that?
  • 06:37You know, I don't know.
  • 06:39I mean, we're trying to
  • 06:40understand more and more through
  • 06:42our clinical trials about what
  • 06:45predisposes
  • 06:46a child to cancer,
  • 06:47and I think there's a
  • 06:49growing understanding that most children
  • 06:51with cancer, especially children who
  • 06:53are really young who develop
  • 06:55cancer,
  • 06:56have probably inherited
  • 06:58some sort of predisposition,
  • 06:59but we're really
  • 07:01lacking an understanding of
  • 07:04what causes cancer in kids.
  • 07:06And that is a
  • 07:08real shift from the adult
  • 07:10world where a lot of
  • 07:12cancers arise in people who
  • 07:13have been long time smokers
  • 07:15or who
  • 07:17have other sort
  • 07:18of lifestyle choices that have
  • 07:20predisposed them. It's not the
  • 07:22case in kids.
  • 07:24And in children,
  • 07:27leukemia typically is acute leukemia.
  • 07:30It's not a chronic leukemia.
  • 07:33It is diagnosed
  • 07:34somewhat
  • 07:36abruptly. Someone has symptoms
  • 07:38and they are diagnosed pretty
  • 07:40quickly usually.
  • 07:42But the outcome is very
  • 07:43different
  • 07:44than it is in
  • 07:45adults.
  • 07:46Mayeb you could tell us a little bit
  • 07:47about what the usual
  • 07:50course is for a child
  • 07:51with leukemia.
  • 07:54As you pointed out, usually
  • 07:56it's sort of
  • 07:57abrupt or acute onset, and
  • 07:59that can come with a
  • 08:01lot of challenges both in
  • 08:02terms of diagnosing
  • 08:05and expediting treatment,
  • 08:07and then also in terms
  • 08:08of adjustment for families and
  • 08:10children. We have to move
  • 08:12very, very quickly.
  • 08:15The likelihood of cure for
  • 08:17the vast majority of leukemias
  • 08:19and lymphomas is greater
  • 08:21than eighty five percent.
  • 08:23Recently,
  • 08:24there has been a novel
  • 08:26targeted therapy
  • 08:28that has
  • 08:29improved
  • 08:30the outcomes for kids with
  • 08:32acute leukemia,
  • 08:34the most common type of
  • 08:35leukemia, ALL, to
  • 08:38a greater than ninety five,
  • 08:40almost ninety eight percent
  • 08:42likelihood of cure. And so
  • 08:44we've really moved
  • 08:46quickly, because
  • 08:48if you think back to
  • 08:49honestly, like, maybe seventy years
  • 08:51ago, that was when
  • 08:53leukemia treatments were even being
  • 08:55introduced
  • 08:56in kids.
  • 09:00And the likelihood of cure was very,
  • 09:01very low.
  • 09:02Now we're curing
  • 09:05virtually almost all children with
  • 09:07leukemia.
  • 09:09We fortunately
  • 09:10have amazing outcomes,
  • 09:12and we have a lot
  • 09:13of really great treatments.
  • 09:16That's not to say that
  • 09:17it isn't grueling. Leukemia treatment
  • 09:20lasts over
  • 09:21two years.
  • 09:22So as compared with a
  • 09:24lot of cancers in adults,
  • 09:27you know, it's a
  • 09:28lot of visits to the
  • 09:29cancer clinic,
  • 09:31a lot of hospitalizations,
  • 09:33and especially in the first
  • 09:35six months can be
  • 09:37very, very intensive.
  • 09:42And with this new targeted therapy,
  • 09:44have you been able to
  • 09:46peel back any of the
  • 09:47other therapy, or is that
  • 09:49a hope for the future?
  • 09:50I think that's a hope
  • 09:51for the future. It's a
  • 09:52little too soon to tell.
  • 09:54This particular therapy, blinatumumab,
  • 09:58has been introduced
  • 10:00in the setting of children
  • 10:02with relapsed leukemia, and only
  • 10:05recently in a trial in
  • 10:06the last couple of years
  • 10:07was introduced
  • 10:08earlier on in cancer treatment.
  • 10:11And it was the subject
  • 10:13of a New England Journal
  • 10:15paper in December,
  • 10:18and a lot of media
  • 10:19coverage because the outcomes in
  • 10:21this trial that's still ongoing
  • 10:24were
  • 10:25so favorable towards children who
  • 10:28had received blanatumumab
  • 10:29upfront that they had to
  • 10:31close the trial early.
  • 10:33Wow.
  • 10:35That's kind of amazing, and I
  • 10:36think the hope would be
  • 10:37to try to reduce some
  • 10:40of the toxic chemotherapies
  • 10:42because, you know, other chemo
  • 10:44medications, unfortunately, can't differentiate between
  • 10:47healthy cells and cancer cells.
  • 10:49We have very
  • 10:50few targeted therapies that are
  • 10:51shown to be effective in
  • 10:53pediatric cancers. And so, you
  • 10:55know, now that we know
  • 10:56this, the idea would be
  • 10:58to try to remove
  • 10:59or minimize some of those
  • 11:01more toxic chemotherapies
  • 11:05that have long term side effects.
  • 11:07And apart from leukemias and
  • 11:09lymphomas,
  • 11:10the other cancers in kids
  • 11:13that strikes me that cancers
  • 11:15that involve the brain are
  • 11:17pretty common.
  • 11:19They're not very common.
  • 11:21What's unfortunate about a lot
  • 11:23of brain tumors in children
  • 11:25is that
  • 11:26they are often not curable.
  • 11:29And so that's
  • 11:30why we just hear about
  • 11:31them a lot.
  • 11:33Yeah. And the same goes,
  • 11:34unfortunately,
  • 11:35for solid tumors. Sometimes they
  • 11:37can behave more aggressively,
  • 11:39especially in adolescents and young
  • 11:42adults.
  • 11:43But fortunately, brain tumors and
  • 11:45solid tumors outside of the
  • 11:47brain are very, very rare.
  • 11:48And is that just because
  • 11:50everything apart from leukemia and
  • 11:51lymphoma is rare?
  • 11:53I think so.
  • 11:56There's leukemia and lymphoma,
  • 11:58and they're really one and two
  • 12:00then there isn't really three.
  • 12:02Everything else is like ten.
  • 12:04That's right.
  • 12:10I know that the treatment
  • 12:11of children who have various
  • 12:13types of brain tumors
  • 12:15can be quite challenging.
  • 12:17That's right. Yeah.
  • 12:19And, you know, the other
  • 12:21thing that I think
  • 12:22that people have become more
  • 12:24and more aware of over
  • 12:26the last
  • 12:28decade or more
  • 12:31is that there can be
  • 12:32long term consequences
  • 12:36of this therapy.
  • 12:38And for that matter, people
  • 12:39can get second cancers both
  • 12:41from the therapy and perhaps
  • 12:42because they have some predisposition.
  • 12:46That's right. The long term
  • 12:50consequences
  • 12:51that we worry about the
  • 12:53most are
  • 12:55infertility, unfortunately.
  • 12:57So for boys and men,
  • 12:58low sperm count. For girls
  • 13:00and young women,
  • 13:02premature ovarian insufficiency.
  • 13:05Unfortunately,
  • 13:07early
  • 13:07sort of failure of the
  • 13:08ovaries to function.
  • 13:13It depends a little bit
  • 13:14on what sorts of treatments
  • 13:16you've received. So we worry
  • 13:17about radiation
  • 13:18related growth challenges,
  • 13:21bone health in cancers that
  • 13:22we treat with a lot
  • 13:23of steroids.
  • 13:25A lot of those side
  • 13:26effects are manageable
  • 13:28with lifestyle changes, with medications,
  • 13:31and with close follow-up.
  • 13:34The risk of a second
  • 13:36cancer related to chemotherapy is
  • 13:38pretty low. We estimate probably
  • 13:40less than one percent of
  • 13:42children
  • 13:43will have that, but that's
  • 13:44why it's just so critically
  • 13:45important even after a child
  • 13:47is done with treatment to
  • 13:48continue to follow-up really closely
  • 13:50with their doctors and their
  • 13:52medical team.
  • 13:53Well, that's really helpful.
  • 13:55I'm certainly getting educated.
  • 13:58I think we're gonna
  • 13:59take a one minute break,
  • 14:01and then we'll be back
  • 14:03and proceed with the
  • 14:05second half of the show.
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  • 15:12You're listening to Connecticut Public
  • 15:14Radio.
  • 15:16This is Eric Winer with
  • 15:17Yale Cancer Answers, and I'm
  • 15:19back with our guest,
  • 15:21doctor Prasanna Ananth,
  • 15:24who is a pediatric
  • 15:26hematologist
  • 15:27oncologist. We've been talking about
  • 15:28pediatric cancer.
  • 15:30We're gonna talk just a
  • 15:31little bit more about that,
  • 15:32and then we're gonna get
  • 15:33into some of her research.
  • 15:36I just wanted to ask
  • 15:37youm about
  • 15:39pediatric cancer survivorship
  • 15:41programs
  • 15:42and what has become
  • 15:45the standard
  • 15:46these days,
  • 15:48and finally,
  • 15:50how you think about the
  • 15:52transition to adulthood
  • 15:54when
  • 15:55people who have been seeing
  • 15:56their pediatrician for a long,
  • 15:58long time
  • 15:59are twenty six years old
  • 16:01and still going to the
  • 16:01children's hospital.
  • 16:03Yeah. So it's interesting.
  • 16:06Survivorship
  • 16:07care has really evolved.
  • 16:10It is
  • 16:12conceived of as very interdisciplinary.
  • 16:14So most survivorship clinics are
  • 16:16staffed by
  • 16:18physicians, nurse practitioners,
  • 16:19dietitians,
  • 16:21psychologists,
  • 16:22endocrinologists,
  • 16:24cardiologists.
  • 16:25I think there's a
  • 16:27general
  • 16:29consensus in the field that
  • 16:33survivorship
  • 16:34requires
  • 16:35all of this interdisciplinary
  • 16:37input and that the effects
  • 16:39of childhood cancer can really
  • 16:41last.
  • 16:43So one of
  • 16:45the things that I find
  • 16:46a lot of
  • 16:48folks who take care of
  • 16:49adults are really surprised by
  • 16:51is that we take care
  • 16:52of children
  • 16:54anywhere from birth all the
  • 16:56way until they fall off
  • 16:57their parents' health insurance. So
  • 16:59we sometimes take care of
  • 17:00adults.
  • 17:01In fact,
  • 17:02I had on my list
  • 17:04a patient who is
  • 17:07a childhood cancer survivor who
  • 17:09is thirty years old.
  • 17:11And I can't say that
  • 17:12I feel
  • 17:13entirely comfortable
  • 17:14taking care of thirty year
  • 17:16olds,
  • 17:17you know, because there's a
  • 17:17lot of other chronic health
  • 17:19problems that I don't have
  • 17:20the skills to necessarily manage.
  • 17:22However, we really rely heavily
  • 17:24upon our colleagues in the
  • 17:26adult world.
  • 17:27And for most survivors
  • 17:29they continue to come
  • 17:31back at least to the
  • 17:32survivorship clinic at least once
  • 17:35a year
  • 17:35for many years after cancer
  • 17:38therapy. So it depends
  • 17:40a little bit on what
  • 17:41type of cancer you've had,
  • 17:43but for most children with
  • 17:44cancer, they come back at
  • 17:46least in the first several
  • 17:47years very frequently to the
  • 17:49oncology clinic. And we do
  • 17:51labs, we do an exam,
  • 17:53and carefully monitor for recurrence
  • 17:55of that cancer and for
  • 17:57any of the side effects
  • 17:58and counsel around
  • 18:00late effects as well.
  • 18:02Usually, about two years
  • 18:05after they've completed therapy, we
  • 18:07will also refer them to
  • 18:08our dedicated survivorship clinic for
  • 18:11some added counseling
  • 18:12and guidance around
  • 18:14specific late effects to be
  • 18:16aware of.
  • 18:17And then at about five
  • 18:19years out, we can often
  • 18:21start to see patients once
  • 18:22a year in our clinic and
  • 18:25try to transition, especially for
  • 18:27those adolescents and young adults,
  • 18:28you know, people that are
  • 18:30at college or working, etcetera,
  • 18:32who may have some difficulty
  • 18:34coming to appointments regularly, we
  • 18:35try to transition some of
  • 18:37that care to primary care
  • 18:39providers.
  • 18:41And what I will say
  • 18:42is that different primary care
  • 18:44providers have differing levels of
  • 18:47comfort with that.
  • 18:48So some feel perfectly fine
  • 18:50with receiving the
  • 18:52guidelines and managing the sort
  • 18:54of long term care,
  • 18:55and others aren't as familiar
  • 18:57with that. And that's very
  • 18:59understandable. And so that's why
  • 19:00the survivorship clinic exists to
  • 19:02be able to help support
  • 19:04those primary care doctors in
  • 19:06that multidisciplinary
  • 19:07way.
  • 19:08Primary care doctors are
  • 19:10under a great deal of
  • 19:11stress these days. They have
  • 19:12fifteen minutes to
  • 19:14see a patient and
  • 19:18I think over time,
  • 19:19it's
  • 19:21probably likely
  • 19:22that they'll be less and
  • 19:23less comfortable in this
  • 19:25arena.
  • 19:26That's right. But, we'll see.
  • 19:30As we
  • 19:31segue into your research, I
  • 19:33just wanna ask one other
  • 19:34question
  • 19:35that's more general, which is
  • 19:37about the families
  • 19:40and what this is like
  • 19:42for a family. I mean,
  • 19:45I can only imagine
  • 19:47as a parent
  • 19:48what it would be like
  • 19:49to have my child diagnosed
  • 19:51with any serious illness
  • 19:54and in particular
  • 19:55cancer.
  • 19:58Well, it's as you
  • 20:00stated, it's unimaginably
  • 20:02difficult for families.
  • 20:05We know that cancer
  • 20:06treatment
  • 20:07disrupts
  • 20:09family financial,
  • 20:12stability.
  • 20:13Sometimes families experience food and
  • 20:16housing instability.
  • 20:18You know, many families
  • 20:20can't work.
  • 20:23The other children in
  • 20:24the household will be
  • 20:26undoubtedly
  • 20:27affected, and so it is
  • 20:29a whole family
  • 20:31disruption.
  • 20:34And when you talk to someone
  • 20:35who had a sibling with
  • 20:37cancer
  • 20:38as an adult,
  • 20:39I've always
  • 20:41been struck that so
  • 20:43much a part of their childhood
  • 20:45is their sibling who had
  • 20:47the cancer no matter
  • 20:48what happened with that sibling.
  • 20:50Right. I mean, it is
  • 20:51a whole family
  • 20:53experience. And in part, I
  • 20:54think for a lot of
  • 20:55us who work in this
  • 20:56world,
  • 20:57this is what is both
  • 21:00most challenging about this work
  • 21:02and
  • 21:03the most inspiring.
  • 21:04I mean, I went
  • 21:06into this field primarily because
  • 21:08it was such a beautiful
  • 21:09opportunity to be able to
  • 21:11shepherd families through their treatment
  • 21:13and to sit with them
  • 21:14in their grief,
  • 21:16and really
  • 21:18be a part of an
  • 21:19extremely difficult experience for
  • 21:22many families.
  • 21:23And that longitudinal
  • 21:25relationship is really, really important
  • 21:28and very fulfilling.
  • 21:30So
  • 21:32the good news
  • 21:33is most children with cancer
  • 21:36survive,
  • 21:37and the majority of those
  • 21:39survive well and go on
  • 21:41and lead
  • 21:44very full lives.
  • 21:46The
  • 21:47bad news is that some
  • 21:48of them don't. It's a
  • 21:49small proportion, but they exist.
  • 21:52And your research has focused
  • 21:54on
  • 21:55how we care
  • 21:57for those
  • 21:59patients and families, those children
  • 22:01and families
  • 22:02where
  • 22:04cure is no longer possible.
  • 22:07Tell us about that if
  • 22:08you would.
  • 22:12As I mentioned
  • 22:13earlier that I was really
  • 22:15inspired
  • 22:16largely by a mentor
  • 22:18and then, of course, clinical
  • 22:20experiences.
  • 22:21So when I was in
  • 22:22training for pediatric
  • 22:24hematology and oncology, I had
  • 22:26a number of experiences
  • 22:28of children with advanced or
  • 22:30incurable cancer
  • 22:32who had really difficult
  • 22:34and contentious
  • 22:36last weeks and months of
  • 22:38life. So there was
  • 22:39disagreement between the
  • 22:41care team and the family
  • 22:42or between the patient and
  • 22:43the family,
  • 22:45and those
  • 22:46experiences
  • 22:47kept occurring.
  • 22:49And it really made me
  • 22:52think about what
  • 22:53good
  • 22:54end of life care looks
  • 22:56like, what good advanced cancer
  • 22:58care looks like. And we
  • 22:59are talking about a very
  • 23:00small proportion of patients, fifteen
  • 23:02percent to twenty percent of
  • 23:04kids with cancer will not
  • 23:06be cured.
  • 23:08And we also now have,
  • 23:10as I mentioned earlier, a
  • 23:11lot of targeted therapies, a
  • 23:12lot of novel treatments that
  • 23:14help these children
  • 23:16live for a very long
  • 23:17time with a high quality
  • 23:19of life or a reasonable
  • 23:20quality of life.
  • 23:22But
  • 23:23I really focus my research
  • 23:25in this area of
  • 23:28where are the gaps in
  • 23:29the provision of
  • 23:31care for these children with
  • 23:33advanced cancer? Where can we
  • 23:35do better?
  • 23:38And
  • 23:40are the problems at the
  • 23:42end of life
  • 23:44more prominent in older children,
  • 23:48where
  • 23:51the patient,
  • 23:52him or herself, is trying
  • 23:54to
  • 23:55take more control?
  • 23:58I wouldn't say that it's
  • 24:00more prominent in older children,
  • 24:02but I do think that
  • 24:03the problems and the challenges
  • 24:04are different. As adolescents and
  • 24:07young adults,
  • 24:08increase their sense of agency
  • 24:12and become more independent,
  • 24:15there is
  • 24:16another layer to
  • 24:18decision making and shared decision
  • 24:21making. So I do think it
  • 24:23adds some complexity.
  • 24:26And there are a lot
  • 24:27of amazing investigators who are
  • 24:30focusing their work on trying
  • 24:31to improve advanced cancer care
  • 24:33for adolescents and young adults.
  • 24:35I've mostly focused my research
  • 24:37on younger children in order
  • 24:39to sort of carve out
  • 24:40a niche for myself.
  • 24:42That being said, a lot
  • 24:43of what we've learned in
  • 24:44our research applies to older
  • 24:47adolescents and young adults.
  • 24:49And so one could imagine
  • 24:51that you could make
  • 24:54that end of life care
  • 24:56easier
  • 24:56by preparing people more. On
  • 24:59the other hand, when someone
  • 25:01is newly diagnosed,
  • 25:03talking about
  • 25:04not doing well is not
  • 25:06exactly what they wanna hear.
  • 25:08So there's a limitation
  • 25:10there, I would imagine.
  • 25:12Yeah. I mean a lot
  • 25:14of these
  • 25:16conversations
  • 25:17are a process.
  • 25:21It is very
  • 25:23rare that we would tell
  • 25:24someone at the initial diagnosis
  • 25:26that their cancer is not
  • 25:28curable,
  • 25:30with a few exceptions. There
  • 25:32are some
  • 25:33brain tumors, for example, that
  • 25:35are universally, unfortunately,
  • 25:38not curable. And so we
  • 25:39can extend life, but we
  • 25:40can't necessarily cure.
  • 25:42And so I really
  • 25:44value honesty and truth telling
  • 25:47in my
  • 25:48communication and
  • 25:50that approach has really been
  • 25:52bolstered by all of the
  • 25:55experiential
  • 25:56learning,
  • 25:57and learning from masters in
  • 25:59palliative care,
  • 26:00honestly.
  • 26:01I am not a clinical
  • 26:03palliative care practitioner.
  • 26:05That being said, there's a
  • 26:07lot that we can learn
  • 26:08as clinicians who take
  • 26:10care of children with serious
  • 26:11illness, we can learn a
  • 26:12ton from the ways in
  • 26:14which pediatric palliative care clinicians
  • 26:16communicate.
  • 26:18But you are very
  • 26:19much the one who's
  • 26:22walking that journey with the
  • 26:23patient and family.
  • 26:25That's right. And
  • 26:27introducing
  • 26:27ideas about
  • 26:29maybe cure isn't possible
  • 26:31when that comes up.
  • 26:33I mean, I often
  • 26:35and I have, of course,
  • 26:36a very different experience as
  • 26:38an adult cancer doctor.
  • 26:40But I generally find that
  • 26:43over time as you
  • 26:46go through an illness with
  • 26:47a patient that
  • 26:49as a doctor and as
  • 26:51a patient, you're often in
  • 26:53sync. And
  • 26:55that's the ideal situation, of
  • 26:56course.
  • 26:58Yeah. I mean, I think
  • 27:00that
  • 27:01the research shows that
  • 27:04pediatric oncologists
  • 27:05are variable in their ability
  • 27:07to kind of walk that
  • 27:08journey and be honest.
  • 27:12It can be really challenging,
  • 27:14and it's sort of interesting
  • 27:16being in sort of both
  • 27:17worlds, being a pediatric
  • 27:19palliative care researcher as well
  • 27:20as a pediatric oncologist.
  • 27:22I know that it's really
  • 27:24difficult to have honest conversations
  • 27:26about the curability or lack
  • 27:28of curability of a particular
  • 27:29cancer.
  • 27:30And at the same and
  • 27:31I know that a lot
  • 27:32of my peers in pediatric
  • 27:34oncology struggle with that tension.
  • 27:37At the same time, we
  • 27:38also know that preparation is
  • 27:40better, honesty
  • 27:42is better.
  • 27:44And being very, very forthright
  • 27:47about prognosis
  • 27:48helps families prepare, helps families
  • 27:51grieve,
  • 27:52and helps them long term
  • 27:54in their bereavement.
  • 27:56And have you or others
  • 27:58studied
  • 28:00interventions
  • 28:01for the pediatric
  • 28:04oncologists
  • 28:04as a way of helping
  • 28:06to improve end of life
  • 28:08care for children and families?
  • 28:11So my research is not
  • 28:13intervention focused, but there are
  • 28:15a number of people who
  • 28:16are very interested in trying
  • 28:19to intervene on the style
  • 28:21of communication.
  • 28:23So communication research is a huge
  • 28:26and impactful area of research
  • 28:28in our world.
  • 28:29Doctor Prasanna Ananth is an
  • 28:31associate professor of pediatrics and
  • 28:33hematology oncology at the Yale
  • 28:35School of Medicine.
  • 28:37If you have questions, the
  • 28:38address is cancer answers at
  • 28:40yale dot edu,
  • 28:41and past editions of the
  • 28:42program are available in audio
  • 28:44and written form at yale
  • 28:45cancer center dot org
  • 28:47we hope you'll join us
  • 28:48next time to learn more
  • 28:49about the fight against cancer
  • 28:51funding for Yale Cancer Answers
  • 28:52is provided by Smilow Cancer
  • 28:54Hospital.