Patient Perspectives on an Invisible Disease: Lupus and Lupus Nephritis
Patient Perspectives on an Invisible Disease: Lupus and Lupus Nephritis By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH Imagine going to see a doctor when you are exhausted and enduring multiple kinds of pain, and they recommend a “psych” evaluation. When they “can’t find anything,” the medical professional you looked to for help decides you must be making it up. Many patients with conditions that mimic other disorders describe facing [...]
More Good News about Treating Multiple Myeloma
More Good News about Treating Multiple Myeloma By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH This spring, the FDA approved a drug called idecabtagene vicleucel ('ide-cel'), a form of CAR-T cell therapy available to treat some forms of recurrent multiple myeloma (MM). Ide-cel is used to modify a patient’s own T-cells to attack the B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) present in myeloma.1 Multiple myeloma is a rare chronic cancer of the [...]
Searching for Answers to Migraines
Searching for Answers to Migraines By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH Migraine headaches can be devastatingly debilitating: When my migraines get so bad, I stare at the wall in complete silence not letting my head touch anything. If my head touches something, it will send more pounding pain throughout my skull. Migraines are a widespread source of disability worldwide, with one systematic review of US government health studies [...]
Genetic and Cellular Studies Carve New Pathways to Treating Epithelial Ovarian Cancer
Genetic and Cellular Studies Carve New Pathways to Treating Ovarian Cancer By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH Ovarian, fallopian tube cancer and primary peritoneal cancer are often grouped under the name epithelial ovarian cancer. When classified as subcategories of ovarian cancer, primary peritoneal cancers and fallopian tube cancers are considered rare. The incidence rate of primary peritoneal cancer is estimated to be 6.78 per million.1 Fallopian tube cancers [...]
Cancer, COVID, and Vaccinations: The Patient Perspective at ASCO 2021
Cancer, COVID, and Vaccinations: The Patient Perspective at ASCO 2021 By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH Inspire is presenting the results of two separate surveys during the American Society of Clinical Oncology® (ASCO) virtual conference being held June 4-8. Chosen from the more than 5,400 abstracts submitted for the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting, the studies focus on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and reactions to the vaccine among patients with [...]
Promising New Therapies for Treating Atopic Dermatitis
Promising New Therapies for Treating Atopic Dermatitis By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH People who do not have atopic dermatitis (AD), also called eczema, can have the simple experience of having an itch relieved by scratching. For people with atopic dermatitis, this is a heavenly fantasy. For AD sufferers, the symptom most of them have in common is areas of skin with unrelenting itching, burning, or otherwise painful [...]
In Search of Answers: Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC)
In Search of Answers: Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC) By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH The basic dry facts about Head and Neck Squamous Cell Cancer (HNSCC) are that it is a cancer of the mucosal lining of the oral cavity and larynx; typical treatments include surgical intervention, chemotherapy, radiation, and, more recently, immunotherapy, followed by various kinds of rehabilitation and reconstruction. However, let’s make it [...]
I was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis at 15
I was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis at 15 By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH Imagine a patient with inflammatory joint pain. You’re probably not visualizing a young person in his 20’s or teens with severe lower back pain, but that’s a likely scenario for sufferers of ankylosing spondylitis (AS). One Inspire member said: I was diagnosed with AS at 15 years old ... in my case it took [...]
The KRAS Mutation: Cancer Patients Search for Hard-To-Find Trials
The KRAS Mutation: Cancer Patients Search for Hard-To-Find Trials By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH There is new hope for cancer patients with the mutated protein KRAS G12C, an oncogene previously thought to be “undruggable.”1 KRAS is one part of the RAS-RAF cellular signaling pathway that drives a cell to multiply, and its mutations are commonly present in pancreatic, colorectal, and non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC), all of [...]
A Burden Shared: Finding Support for Major Depressive Disorder
A Burden Shared: Finding Support for Major Depressive Disorder By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH The CDC reported in March that the number of people in the US experiencing recent symptoms of an anxiety or depressive disorder increased from 36.4% to 41.5% during the pandemic.1 Given the circumstances, this 5% uptick in people reporting mental distress isn’t surprising. What should catch our attention, however, is that over 1/3 [...]