LIHUE — Multiple elements influence a person’s susceptibility to developing cancer and just as many variables factor into reaching remission.
But, medical professionals who walk that path with patients say there are some good solid steps to take for prevention — things like not smoking, staying active, and eating a balanced diet.
There are also routine tests and checkpoints to hit as men and women age. That’s where one of the most important prevention tools comes into play: the primary care physician.
“Regularly seeing a primary care physician is one of the most important things you can do for prevention,” said Rene Parker, who heads up the Wilcox Infusion Center, where patients to go to receive chemotherapy. “They’ll keep you on track with exams.”
Built in 2009, the Infusion Center is a well-lit room with multiple infusion stations surrounding a central reception desk so nurses can see all patients simultaneously.
Treats like cookies and coffee often adorn the Center’s small kitchen next to a nook with free wigs and reading materials for patients — all of whom spend at least a little time at the Center.
Depending on the diagnosis and type of cancer, some people only visit the Infusion Center once. Others need to go more frequently.
“We have a navigator who walks patients through all of the steps, helps with directions and people who talk with them about what to expect,” Parker said. “After a while, those that are coming more often develop a routine.”
Before they even set foot in the Infusion Center, though, patients start cancer treatments with a Wilcox oncologist — a doctor who treats cancer.
Dr. Jeffrey Cronk, is Wilcox Medical Center’s vice chief of staff and oncology section chief; a three-board certified oncologist who has experience treating a wide variety of cancers.
He also says the best way to prevention of developing cancer of any kind is to regularly see a primary care physician, someone with whom the patient can develop a relationship.
“They’ll get to know you as a patient and they’ll have your whole history, it’s an important relationship to have,” Cronk said.
It’s the primary care physician that will tell you when you’re supposed to get that first prostate exam or screening for prostate cancer — for men at about 50— or when it’s time to start annual breast cancer screening — for women at around 40.
“Annual checkups and screenings are some of the best methods of prevention,” Cronk said.
The basics
Cells are rapidly dividing all over the body in varying timeframes; for example, cells in the digestive tract turn over about once a week. It’s within that process that cancer starts — as a genetic mutation that multiplies and accumulates over time.
“There are mistakes and there’s cellular repair mechanisms to correct them,” Cronk said. “But, unfortunately that doesn’t always work 100 percent and these genetic mutations add up.”
Over time, those mistakes replicate into a growth. Simultaneously, those cells develop the ability to “hide” from the immune system, which would normally target and destroy the cancer cells.
New treatments
Newer drugs and treatments known as biologic medications or immune checkpoint drugs specifically target the immune system instead of doing what doctors refer to as a “blanket treatment” like chemotherapy and radiation.
With costs of some of the treatments costing sometimes a thousand fold what it would be to do chemotherapy —$25,000 a month, with insurance deductibles averaging $2,500 or $5,000 monthly — the treatments are expensive, but can be combined with chemotherapy and radiation or stand on their own.
“With many of (these therapies) you can just take a pill form rather than intravenous,” Cronk said. “They’re developing and we’re learning more as we go on.”
These treatments, as well as support from the family, physicians, healthy diet and exercise and regular visits to the primary care doctor have all played into lowering the mortality rate for cancer in the U.S. by 27 percent in the last 25 years, according to the American Cancer Society.
And now, physicians at Wilcox and around the nation are going a step further than remission by formulating plans to follow patients through remission and after, for the rest of their lives.
“That should be the standard of care at this time,” Cronk said. “We’ll sit with a patient at the end of the treatment and have a checklist for going forward.”
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Jessica Else, staff writer, can be reached at 245-0452 or jelse@thegardenisland.com.
