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KIDNEY CANCER: Should urologists be administering the new targeted therapies for kidney cancer?
"It depends on the circumstances of your practice," advised Robert G. Uzzo, MD, of the Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, and moderator of the urothelial and renal cell carcinoma session. "At our cancer center, we co-manage the patients. I'm not afraid to start a patient on a drug, and I'm not afraid to see or operate on patients taking the drug."
"It depends on the circumstances of your practice," advised Robert G. Uzzo, MD, of the Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, and moderator of the urothelial and renal cell carcinoma session. "At our cancer center, we co-manage the patients. I'm not afraid to start a patient on a drug, and I'm not afraid to see or operate on patients taking the drug."
In patients who have undergone nephrectomy, they will often return to their urologist if their cancer recurs.
"They are comfortable with you and you are comfortable with them. Should you treat those patients? I don't think there's a reason you can't, but you need to feel comfortable managing the side effects. You at least need a good trials nurse or a good oncology nurse who feels comfortable managing the patients' phone calls, because you will be getting phone calls from patients about their side effects from these drugs," Dr. Uzzo said.
