Perspectives from those who live it every day.
Patients and doctors received news this week of the FDA’s approval of the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab in combination with platinum doublet chemotherapy as first-line therapy for all patients with non-small cell lung cancer, irrespective of patients’ tumor PD-L1 status. The new approval follows the FDA’s decision last November to approve pembrolizumab as a first-line therapy for some […]
Endocrinologists, or hormone doctors, are on your lung cancer treatment team “if it's clinically appropriate for them to be a part of it,” says radiation oncologist Russell K. Hales, M.D. of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center on the Johns Hopkins Bayview campus. Hales notes that “Endocrinologists often look at hormone levels, and we use […]
Many lung cancer patients are concerned about the side effects lung cancer radiation can cause, such as heart or kidney damage, or fertility problems, says radiation oncologist Russell K. Hales, M.D. of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center on the Johns Hopkins Bayview campus. “Any therapy can cause short-term or long-term problems, and side effects,” […]
“When I meet with patients, I tell them that there are three critical parts to their therapy. The first is local therapy, such as surgery or radiation. The second is chemotherapy, or systemic therapy. And the third is their overall well-being, such as nutrition,” says Russell K. Hales, M.D. Hales, a radiation oncologist at the […]
“I'm not aware of data to show that more young people are being diagnosed with lung cancer,” says Russell K. Hales, M.D., a radiation oncologist, at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center on the Johns Hopkins Bayview campus. “But anecdotally, it is what I seem to be seeing as well. What we tend to see […]
“Staging is a critical part of therapy,” says radiation oncologist Russell K. Hales, M.D. of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center on the Johns Hopkins Bayview campus. “We don’t want to focus only on a tumor in the chest, for example, if there’s something growing in another area of the body. That’s why we fully […]
“Absolutely, yes. All of our therapies, surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy for lung cancer come with risks and benefits,” says radiation oncologist Russell K. Hales, M.D. of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center on the Johns Hopkins Bayview campus. “We use those therapies only after careful evaluation of the risks of the therapy, versus […]
“Certainly, it’s never optimal to have deficiencies in vitamin levels,” says radiation oncologist Russell K. Hales, M.D. of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center on the Johns Hopkins Bayview campus. “We try to make sure that our patients are healthy, and taking a multivitamin every day.” However, Hales warns against lung cancer patients taking high […]
Radiation oncologist Russell K. Hales, M.D. of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center on the Johns Hopkins Bayview campus notes that clinical trials are treatments that are usually done at cancer centers with researchers, like Hopkins. “Clinical trials take an existing therapy, and add to it an investigational therapy, or give an investigational therapy altogether,” […]