Developing a Patient-Centric Approach in Small Cell Lung Cancer Care

The use of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) makes sense for understanding the types of therapy that will be most effective for those with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and other types of lung cancer, according to Anne Chiang, MD, PhD.

As part of a discussion with CancerNetwork®, Chiang emphasized the importance of employing PROs in cancer management, especially among those with lung cancer. Being able to focus on PROs, she described, ensures that patients are included in the shared treatment decision-making process. Moreover, she stated that PROs and understanding each patient’s point of view may support a patient-centric approach to care that helps providers understand which therapeutic options will be most useful in each specific situation. She also highlighted how understanding the types of adverse effects (AEs) that each patient may experience is a “super important” aspect of care.

Chiang is an associate professor of Medicine in the Section of Medical Oncology at Yale School of Medicine.

Transcript:

Employing patient-reported outcomes allows us to hear directly from the patient. We do that anyway, but I think being able to focus on that makes sure that we’re including them in the shared decision-making and that it’s a focus in clinical trials as well. Sometimes, it may not be as easy as saying, “Okay, this is what I hear, and this is what we’re going to do.” Understanding from the patient’s point of view, which is what we’re trying to do nowadays, is having a patient-centric approach. It makes sense to hear directly from the patient and capture that for understanding which therapies are going to be the best for the patient. Now, we are starting to have different options for our patients with lung cancer. Understanding which patients are having which [adverse] effects and how that’s impacting their life is super important.