Karen Russell, MD, Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare Published 12:36 p.m. ET Nov. 16, 2020

Karen Russell, the medical director for cancer research, talks about the importance of research and clinical trials.

Dr. Karen Russell, a cancer and hematology specialist at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, speaks with a breast cancer patient at the chemotherapy infusion and exam area of the Cancer Center of the hospital.(Photo: Joe Rondone/Democrat)

While this year has brought a new normal for us all, we found cancer was somewhat hidden in the shadows as the world focused on the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, cancer unfortunately continued to be disruptive and deadly, especially breast cancer.

Today, breast cancer remains the No. 1cancer in incidence for women and men combined in the United States (not including non-melanoma skin cancers). Through improved access to prevention and better treatment options, it is no longer the highest in mortality as death rates have dropped 40 percent for women between 1989 and 2017.

Yet this year alone an estimated 42,000+ deaths are predicted in the United States (American Cancer Society), which is still too many. With these daunting statistics in mind, we get to work to find a cure.

Every advancement in breast cancer care and prevention has been the result of a clinical trial and the patients who have participated in these trials. Paving the way for progress, clinical trials are how we improve healthcare and ultimately, save lives.

At Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, we are proud to offer an international network of clinical trials for cancer patients in the Big Bend. Clinical trials are an important piece of the complete care offered at TMH, as they provide the opportunity for patients to receive new and cutting-edge treatments.

Currently, we have six clinical trials active specifically for breast cancer patients. These trials are a mix of large, often government or public sector funded, cooperative group trials among many cancer centers around the world, alternately, those directly run by pharmaceutical companies testing new drugs or new timing/indication for drugs that have worked well.

Four current studies are in the area of aggressive estrogen positive or triple negative breast cancer, using added chemotherapy or immunotherapy before or after surgery in hopes for prevention of recurrence and increased cure.

BWEL is an ongoing cooperative trial led by the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. This study is an intervention of weight loss and fitness counseling after treatment of early breast cancer, where there has been suggestive data that healthy weight and exercise can decrease cancer recurrence. We continue to see robust enrollment to this trial and are encouraged by the patient experience.

We are also part of an anonymous cancer registry trial that compiles data on side effects and quality of life for our patients to improve holistic care. This clinical trial is available to all cancer types.

Finally, we continue to follow patients in an ongoing phase three trial already reporting positive results, using the new drug abemaciclib with hormone blocking therapy after standard treatment. Patients with estrogen expressing breast cancers receiving the new drug have lower recurrence rates (less cancer coming back) in the time studied to date.

In the next few months, we are excited to expand this portfolio with additional trials of novel drugs that continue to offer life-changing results for our patients. Specifically, we will soon be contributing to the COVID-19 Cancer Consortium (CCC-19) led by Vanderbilt University, to further understand how cancer patients have experienced COVID at various stages of their therapy.

Unfortunately, only about three percent of U.S. adult patients with cancer enroll in clinical trials, largely because there is a lack of access for patients to clinical research in many communities. At the very heart of improving cancer care, there must be a local cancer clinic providing accessibility to the people who need it most, and TMH is proud to be the leader in comprehensive cancer care providing access to our region.

We thank you for your continued support for the cancer services and patients at Tallahassee Memorial Cancer Center. For more information on clinical trials, visit TMH.ORG/Cancer.

Dr. Karen Russell(Photo: Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare)

Karen Russell, MD, medical oncologist at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare

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Cure for cancer is research: Clinical trials pave the way at TMH - Tallahassee Democrat

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