Abstract SY29-01: The Cancer Tsunami: What is it and what does it mean for survivors, clinicians, and researchers
Authors: Mayer Deborah K. , Alfano Catherine , Panedo Frank 
Published: August 2019

We are facing a tsunami of cancer survivors; the majority of whom will be older and longer-term survivors most of whom will also have comorbid illnesses. Care of survivors include surveillance for recurrences and new cancers, management of the sequelae of treatment, and health promotion all requiring care coordination. This session will describe the changes in the number and type of survivors, discuss late and long-term effects of cancer and its treatment on this growing population and focus on the impact in vulnerable populations. Needed research and interventions to address the issues survivors face will be examined. Practice, research and policy issues to address survivors care will be discussed.

A Research Roadmap for Equitably Improving Outcomes for Cancer Survivors

Cancer care delivery is being shaped by growing numbers of cancer survivors coupled with provider shortages, rising costs of primary treatment and follow-up care, significant survivorship health disparities, increased reliance on informal caregivers, and the transition to value-based care. These factors create a compelling need to provide coordinated, comprehensive, personalized care for cancer survivors in ways that meet survivors’ and caregivers’ unique needs while minimizing the impact of provider shortages and controlling costs for healthcare systems, survivors, and families. These changes involve reforming care delivery, education, and policy to equitably improve survivor outcomes and support caregivers. In Dr. Alfano’s talk, she will focus on three critical research priorities to accelerate these changes including: (1) implementing routine assessment of survivors’ needs and functioning and caregivers’ needs; (2) facilitating personalized, tailored, information and referrals from diagnosis onward for both survivors and caregivers, shifting services from point-of-care to point-of-need wherever possible; and (3) disseminating and supporting the implementation of new care methods and interventions. Opportunities and challenges to address these priorities will be discussed.

Survivorship Interventions in Vulnerable Populations: Improving Patient Reported Outcomes Via Technology Based Delivery and Addressing the Sociocultural Context

Over the past several decades, advances in early detection and treatment efficacy in oncology patients has led to a growing and unprecedented number of cancer survivors. The cancer survivorship experience can be highly variable based on multiple factors including pre-morbid psychosocial functioning, disease severity, financial and social resources, and treatment-related impairment. Benefits of survivorship can be offset by chronic and debilitating treatment-related side effects, ongoing disease monitoring, financial burden and interpersonal disruption. These challenges are often exacerbated in vulnerable populations (e.g., racial/ethnic minorities, rural communities) due to social and contextual barriers, limited access to care, culturally-driven illness beliefs, and competing demands (e.g., family obligations, financial burden) which collectively can further compromise health-related quality of life and overall psychosocial adjustment. Technological advances have ushered in a new era of technology-driven monitoring and care that can provide feasible, precise, ecologically valid and responsive methods to address the needs of cancer survivors. In this presentation, Dr. Penedo will discuss several studies that are capitalizing on e-Health and m-Health technologies to monitor and reduce symptom burden and improve quality of life and other patient reported outcomes in ethnically/racially diverse prostate cancer survivors and Latina breast cancer survivors. Opportunities and challenges will be discussed.

Citation Format: Deborah K. Mayer, Catherine Alfano, Frank Panedo. The Cancer Tsunami: What is it and what does it mean for survivors, clinicians, and researchers [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr SY29-01.