Creating a Seamless Transition from Pediatric to Adult Patient Cancer Care

The transition from pediatric patient to an adult patient can sometimes be a gray area. Maria C. Velez, MD, spoke to CancerNetwork® about how she and her colleagues try to make it a seamless transition.

The pediatric oncology program at Manning Family Children’s New Orleans has partnered with adult colleagues throughout Louisiana, so when the time comes, patients can have an easy transition of care. Velez noted that many of the clinicians working at these partnered sites have studied or trained at LSUHSC and Manning Family Children’s as adult oncologists or primary care providers, including Medicine-Pediatrics (MedPeds) specialists, so they are all familiar with the diagnoses and potential late effects.

Velez also highlighted the survivorship program at her institution, developed by her colleague, Pinki Prasad, MD, MPH, which “helps bridge the gap” between pediatrics and adult oncology care. Through these initiatives, Velez is hoping to create a more cohesive space for the transition of care.

Velez is a distinguished professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Hematology/Oncology, and former director of the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellowship at LSU Health Sciences Center School of Medicine-New Orleans and Manning Family Children’s, and the current president of the American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology (ASPHO).

Transcript:

This is an area that we continue to work on and strive to improve. We have partnered with adult colleagues in the community, not only through LSU, but also the other programs in the region and the state, to identify primary care physicians who had some knowledge of our type of patient, many of whom are graduates from our program... We also collaborate with our adult colleagues in oncology for those patients who require further management and care once they graduate from our programs, many of the [whom are] hematology [cases]. It remains a challenge for many of them. I’m not going to say no [about moving to an adult program], especially for some of the hematology disorders and young patients with brain tumors. Some of them, unfortunately, had long-term [adverse] effects and sequela of the treatment. We have survivor programs [at LSU]; one of my colleagues leads that, and that also helps us bridge this gap in some of the areas. We are also now working on strengthening and further developing our AYA, or adolescent and young adult, program, in collaboration with our adult colleagues in medical oncology at LSU. With all that, we are hoping to continue expanding this so that the patient continues to have the best care that they subsequently will need, not only because of potential physical consequences or late effects, but also sometimes psychological and cognitive [effects], and so on in similar areas.