Abstract P4-03-22: Linking Internal Medicine Care to Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients for Success: LIMBS
Authors: Kaler Abbey , Raghavendra Akshara Singareeka , Kirklin Ginny T. , Cunningham Dawn , Manzullo Ellen , Tripathy Debu , Razouki Zayd 
Published: March 2023

Background: The Advanced Breast Cancer (ABC) program at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center was created by metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients for MBC patients. The ABC Program seeks to improve quantity and quality of life for patients living with MBC. MD Anderson actively treats 2,076 patients living with MBC. ABC program patient advocates voiced the need to increase MBC patients’ access to internal medicine services coordinated with oncology care.

Significance: Previous literature suggests patients living with MBC have difficulty receiving oncology coordinated internal medicine services due to their terminal diagnosis and indefinite prescription of anti-cancer treatment. Comorbidities in this setting are known to be associated with inferior outcomes. ABC Program patient advocates reported various challenges seeking care from community based medical professionals including, timely awareness of their local provider on the status of their cancer. Other challenges included the lack of familiarity of some providers with novel MBC cancer treatment, side effects, and interactions of their cancer treatment with non-cancer conditions and treatment. Therefore, with the increasing life expectancy of MBC patients, there is a growing realization of the importance of managing the medical comorbidities in coordination with the MBC patient’s cancer treatment.

Purpose: To increase access and coordinate internal medicine services for MBC patients with medical comorbidities.

Interventions: In partnership with ABC Program patient advocates, the Linking Internal Medicine and Metastatic Breast cancer for Success (LIMBS) clinic was created in February 2021. The LIMBS clinic aimed to bridge the gap in lack of oncology coordinated internal medicine service for MBC patients.

Evaluation: Breast Medical Oncology providers requested LIMBS clinic consults for 108 patients for comorbidity management since the clinic inception. This is a 44% increase in internal medicine consultations prior to LIMBS clinic creation (60 vs 108). The LIMBS clinic consults resulted in 474 follow up visits. Compared to MBC patients at MD Anderson, LIMBS patients were more likely to be African American (20% vs 13%) and were more likely to be older (59 years vs 57 years). Gender, marital status, and clinical trial enrollment did not differ between LIMBS patients and MBC patients. LIMBS patients had significantly higher rates of hypertension (46% vs 19%), Type II DM (19% vs 6%), hyperlipidemia (13% vs 10%), and hypothyroidism (13% vs 6%) compared to MBC patients in general. LIMBS patients had lower rates of anxiety (8% vs 11%) and depression (2% vs 7%) when compared to the MBC patients in general. The top 10 comorbidities for all MBC patients versus LIMBS patients are listed in Table 1.

Discussion: It is feasible to build and integrate internal medicine with breast medical oncology services for patients with metastatic breast cancer. Future research should focus on exploring, describing, and meeting the internal medicine needs of MBC patients. Future initiatives are needed to bridge the gap in care for oncology coordinated internal medicine services between community and tertiary care centers.

Table 1. Top 10 Comorbidities of all MBC patients versus LIMBS clinic patients Note. This table demonstrates the top 10 comorbidities for MBC population and the LIMBS population.

Citation Format: Abbey Kaler, Akshara Singareeka Raghavendra, Ginny T. Kirklin, Dawn Cunningham, Ellen Manzullo, Debu Tripathy, Zayd Razouki. Linking Internal Medicine Care to Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients for Success: LIMBS [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2022 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(5 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-03-22.