Thursday Morning Medical Update: Keeping Childhood Cancer Survivors Cancer Free As Adults

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07/03/23

The University of Kansas Health System is treating a total of 62 COVID patients today, same as yesterday. Other significant numbers:

30 with the active virus today, 35 Wednesday
4 in ICU, 5 Wednesday
2 on a ventilator, 4 Wednesday

Key points from today’s guests:

Morning Rounds – Headlines from Current Events

Dr. Ashley Simmons, medical director, Adelaide C. Ward Women’s Heart Health Center, and her daughter, Lily
There is a special event tomorrow night celebrating a local nonprofit called “Just Like Youth Films” creating documentaries and movies that promote inclusion and awareness for various health conditions that affect children.
Kids with health problems can be bullied when going back to school, so these films really help other kids understand what kids who are affected by health issues – food allergies, burns, cancer, Down Syndrome, facial anomalies and more – are going through.
It’s a woman-run organization and all of the funds go toward producing other educational films.

Focus Topic

Laura Read, Childhood Cancer Survivor
Her sister noticed a lump on her collarbone when Laura was 14 and it turned out to be Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
She went through six months of chemotherapy and one month of radiation.
But when she became an adult, her childhood cancer team could no longer treat her, so she had to find a new team.
That’s where The University of Kansas Health System’s Pediatric Cancer Survivorship Transition Clinic stepped in.
They’ve helped her create a comprehensive health care plan that includes counseling, answering health care questions, tests and more.
She is so thankful for the transition clinic as well as all of the top providers and hospitals in Kansas City.

Dr. Becky Lowry, medical director, Pediatric Survivorship Transition Clinic
There are a number of things that we think about patients needing to have monitored as they go forward into adulthood.
We call those late effects, but those are health conditions that are unique to their prior treatments.
For example, it is important to monitor heart related conditions as prior radiation or certain types of chemotherapy can increase patient's risk for heart related concerns.
Also, they will start their breast cancer screening at an earlier age and with different technologies since those patients are at a higher risk.
Cancer is an emotionally complex journey and mental health care is another important part of helping survivors move forward.

Kyla Alsman, R.N., nurse navigator, Pediatric Survivorship Transition Clinic
One of Kyla’s roles is first gathering all prior medical information for patients like Laura to determine the proper, individualized plan for the patient.
Those questions might include: Where was your treatment? Did you get came out? Did you get radiation? Did you have a bone marrow transplant?
She goes through those records to put together a two to four page summary, which tells the team what we need to continue to monitor for.
Childhood cancer survivors have an accelerated cancer risk as adults -- breast cancer or colon cancer that could happen earlier, which is why we start screening earlier.
This is something that we will continue to monitor lifelong for the patient.

COVID Update

Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control, The University of Kansas Health System
COVID cases in the Health System continue to be steady.
Separately, the CDC is warning about a rise in untreatable Shigella infections.
This is a bacteria that spreads through feces and it can cause severe diarrhea.
Frequent handwashing can help avoid this, but antibiotic treatments have lately proven less effective.
This is a global problem as more antibiotic-resistant bacteria are impacting treatments.

Friday, March 3 is the next Morning Medical Update. We’ll bring you the amazing story of a men who had agonizing leg pain and the new treatment that was able to get him back up and active for the first time in years.

Visit our website, www.kansashealthsystem.com or findadoctor.kansashealthsystem.com.