Oral Chemotherapy Offers Patients a More Convenient, Less Invasive Treatm...( Trinitas Comprehensive ...),Health

Trinitas Comprehensive Cancer Center in Elizabeth, New Jersey has new oral chemotherapy program in place

LOS ANGELES, July 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The increasing availability of oral chemotherapy for treating a variety of cancers--along with projections from the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) that 25 percent of oncology drugs will be in oral form by 2013--raise questions for both clinicians and patients with regard to the benefits, risks and efficient management of oral chemotherapy. At Aptium Oncology's Trinitas Comprehensive Cancer Center in Elizabeth, New Jersey, many of those questions have already been answered.

"The result of the greater emergence of oral chemotherapy regimens is a significant shift on a number of levels for cancer care professionals, as well as their patients," said Richard Emery, Executive Director of Trinitas Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of nine hospital-based cancer centers in the Aptium Oncology Network. "Until recently, health care providers have been accustomed to a considerable amount of control including certainty regarding the administering of the right drug, in the right amount, via the right route--at the right time, to the right patient. In contrast, oral chemotherapy takes much of the control from the clinician and places a greater responsibility on the patient."

In keeping pace with the ongoing growth of oral chemotherapy use, Emery noted that cancer centers need to develop new infrastructures. Preferably, these would include a comprehensive system designed to select appropriate candidates for oral agents, along with a robust educational component to address safety and adherence practices, while ensuring treatment efficacy. Additionally, there are a number of other patient-related factors that figure into the oral chemotherapy equation including financial considerations, an abil
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