In this Podcast, Briony Scott discusses the stigma often associated with a diagnosis of lung cancer with Danielle and Terri – both diagnosed with lung cancer and managing the impact on their lives. They also explore self-stigma, family implications, cultural and social behaviours and systemic beliefs.

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Thank you for listening to Conversations in Lung Cancer Research. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

---------------

Connect with TOGA

Attend an Event: https://thoraciconcology.org.au/events/

Become a Member: Join the TOGA community at https://thoraciconcology.org.au/membership/

Donate: Support our research and treatment initiatives at https://thoraciconcology.org.au/support-us/donate/

Follow Us

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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Thoracic_Oncology

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Acknowledgement of Country

The Thoracic Oncology Group of Australasia Limited acknowledges Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait cultures; and to Elders past and present.

Drugs that target cancer gene mutations or rearrangements have improved outcomes for patients with many different cancers, including lung cancer, melanoma, and others . The challenge is being able to identify these genomic changes in a timely and efficient manner. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) based tumour comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) that detects a wide range of genomic aberrations is one method being utilized to match patients to relevant targeted therapies against several oncogenic drivers, particularly for lung cancer. Several in-house as well as commercial testing panels are now available that help Medical Oncologists understand the cancer genomic profile of their patients. This information helps inform whether there these patients are likely to respond to a targeted agent, either as standard of care or as part of a clinical trial.

In this Podcast, we will discuss some of the challenges that exist in being able to identify these molecular changes. The value of comprehensive genomic profiling for lung cancer patients in Australia will be discussed including the TOGA ASPiRATION study, an observational cohort study to assess the clinical impact of CGP in metastatic lung cancer patients. Professor Nick Pavlakis, TOGA Chair and Senior Staff Specialist in the Department of Medical Oncology at Royal North Shore Hospital and conjoint Professor in the Faculty of Medicine University of Sydney, is joined by Professor Stephen Fox, Head of the Molecular Pathology Laboratory, also currently Director of Pathology at Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute and Professorial Fellow in the Department of Pathology, The University of Melbourne.

https://thoraciconcology.org.au/aspiration/

Thank you to Roche for sponsoring this Podcast.

---------------

Support TOGA

Thank you for listening to Conversations in Lung Cancer Research. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

---------------

Connect with TOGA

Attend an Event: https://thoraciconcology.org.au/events/

Become a Member: Join the TOGA community at https://thoraciconcology.org.au/membership/

Donate: Support our research and treatment initiatives at https://thoraciconcology.org.au/support-us/donate/

Follow Us

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thoracic-oncology-group-of-australasia/

X (Twitter): https://x.com/TOGAANZ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/togaanz/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Thoracic_Oncology

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Acknowledgement of Country

The Thoracic Oncology Group of Australasia Limited acknowledges Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait cultures; and to Elders past and present.

Inflammation plays an important role in pathogenesis, development and progression of lung cancer. Widespread literature exists on the prognostic impact of tumor-related factors, whereas host-related factors have not been deeply evaluated to date. Inflammatory indicators could play a vital role in assisting Medical Oncologists to identify which patients are considered at a higher probability of unfavourable prognosis and probably worse toxicity, justifying an appropriate management plan in advance.

In this podcast Stephen Clarke, Professor of Medicine from the University of Sydney joins Associate Professor Kellie Charles, Head of Pharmacology at the University of Sydney Australia, who were part of the team that discovered that cancer-related inflammation altered chemotherapy pharmacokinetics, toxicity and survival, to discuss the issue.

Thank you to Novartis for sponsoring this Podcast.

---------------

Support TOGA

Thank you for listening to Conversations in Lung Cancer Research. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

---------------

Connect with TOGA

Attend an Event: https://thoraciconcology.org.au/events/

Become a Member: Join the TOGA community at https://thoraciconcology.org.au/membership/

Donate: Support our research and treatment initiatives at https://thoraciconcology.org.au/support-us/donate/

Follow Us

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thoracic-oncology-group-of-australasia/

X (Twitter): https://x.com/TOGAANZ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/togaanz/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Thoracic_Oncology

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Acknowledgement of Country

The Thoracic Oncology Group of Australasia Limited acknowledges Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait cultures; and to Elders past and present.

Delays in diagnosis are one of the main factors associated with reduced survival rates for lung cancer patients. Clinical guidelines have been implemented in some countries to standardize the diagnosis process, better define the time from diagnosis to the beginning of treatment, and to improve clinical results in lung cancer. In Australia, periods of 14 days from the initial referral of the GP to the first specialty consultation, and also from diagnosis to the first treatment are recommended. However, previous reviews showed an average time of 27 days for lung cancer diagnosis, with time distributions below those recommended by international guidelines (ranging from 6 to 45 days). Across all three modalities, a treatment delay of four weeks is associated with an increase in the risk of death.

In this TOGA Podcast, we will discuss some of the challenges associated with treatment delay and how we can improve these for lung cancer patients in Australia. Dr Mal Itchins, is a thoracic medical oncologist at Royal North Shore Hospital, GenesisCare, and North Shore Private; Professor Wendy Cooper,  Staff Specialist in Tissue Pathology and Diagnostic Oncology at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and Mr Phillip Antippa a specialist Cardiothoracic surgeon and the Head of Thoracic Surgical Services at The Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, join us in the conversation.

Thank you to Novartis for sponsoring this TOGA Podcast.

Reference:

ASPiRATION is an observational cohort study to assess the clinical impact of comprehensive genomic profiling in metastatic lung cancer patients. Find more information here: https://thoraciconcology.org.au/aspiration/

---------------

Support TOGA

Thank you for listening to Conversations in Lung Cancer Research. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

---------------

Connect with TOGA

Attend an Event: https://thoraciconcology.org.au/events/

Become a Member: Join the TOGA community at https://thoraciconcology.org.au/membership/

Donate: Support our research and treatment initiatives at https://thoraciconcology.org.au/support-us/donate/

Follow Us

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thoracic-oncology-group-of-australasia/

X (Twitter): https://x.com/TOGAANZ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/togaanz/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Thoracic_Oncology

---------------

Acknowledgement of Country

The Thoracic Oncology Group of Australasia Limited acknowledges Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait cultures; and to Elders past and present.

Welcome to the Thoracic Oncology Group of Australasia Podcast series. 

This TOGA Podcast focuses on thriving with lung cancer and overcoming the challenges associated with long term survivorship and lung cancer. The past decade has seen significant advances in the management of metastatic NSCLC with the advent of multiple targeted therapies, immunotherapy approaches and combination approaches and associated improvements in survival outcomes for patients. There is an emerging cohort of patients with advanced NSCLC who experience long periods of disease control whilst on these treatments. 

Traditionally survivorship has referred to the care of or issues for patients following curative treatment of early-stage disease. However, due to the recent advances described here, there is a compelling need to begin addressing the issues faced by long term metastatic disease ’survivors’. 

In this Podcast, we welcome Lillian Leigh, a long-term survivor of lung cancer, Dr Sarah Heynemann, Oncology Fellow from the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse and Mary Duffy, Lung Cancer Clinical Nurse Consultant (CNC) in the Lung MDT at Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute about the issue’s patients face and how to support long term survivors of lung cancer.

---------------

Support TOGA

Thank you for listening to Conversations in Lung Cancer Research. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

---------------

Connect with TOGA

Attend an Event: https://thoraciconcology.org.au/events/

Become a Member: Join the TOGA community at https://thoraciconcology.org.au/membership/

Donate: Support our research and treatment initiatives at https://thoraciconcology.org.au/support-us/donate/

Follow Us

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thoracic-oncology-group-of-australasia/

X (Twitter): https://x.com/TOGAANZ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/togaanz/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Thoracic_Oncology

---------------

Acknowledgement of Country

The Thoracic Oncology Group of Australasia Limited acknowledges Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait cultures; and to Elders past and present.

Cigarette smoking is by far the greatest cause for lung cancer. But the proportion of lung cancer in patients who have never smoked before is on the rise. 

In this podcast, Melissa Moore and Lucy Morgan discuss the increase in lung cancer diagnoses for young women who have never smoked before. 

---------------

Support TOGA

Thank you for listening to Conversations in Lung Cancer Research. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

---------------

Connect with TOGA

Attend an Event: https://thoraciconcology.org.au/events/

Become a Member: Join the TOGA community at https://thoraciconcology.org.au/membership/

Donate: Support our research and treatment initiatives at https://thoraciconcology.org.au/support-us/donate/

Follow Us

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thoracic-oncology-group-of-australasia/

X (Twitter): https://x.com/TOGAANZ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/togaanz/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Thoracic_Oncology

---------------

Acknowledgement of Country

The Thoracic Oncology Group of Australasia Limited acknowledges Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait cultures; and to Elders past and present.

Welcome to the Thoracic Oncology Group of Australasia Podcast series. This TOGA Podcast focuses on Small Cell Lung cancer (SCLC) – a type of lung cancer with the poorest prognosis of any lung cancer. SCLC patients make up about 13% of new lung cancer diagnoses that are characterized by early & rapid spread with only modest progress in its treatment over the last decades. Immunotherapy continues to radically change the way we treat many types of lung cancer and today we explore what these treatments mean for the SCLC patient and the practical implications of using immunotherapies in the clinic. We also discuss future combinations and novel agents in clinical trial development.

Our guests today include Dr Steven Kao, Medical Oncologist from the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse in Sydney Australia, Associate Professor Stephen Liu, Director of Thoracic Oncology & Director of Developmental Therapeutics at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Centre of Georgetown University and also Dr Rebecca Tay, a Medical Oncologist from the Royal Hobart Hospital in Tasmania, having recently completed a Clinical Research Fellowship at the Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester.

Thank you for joining us and also thank you to Roche for sponsoring this Podcast.

Useful link: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fonc.2020.01074/full

Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the various authors and participants contained in this message do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of TOGA or official policies of TOGA. Dosage & administration of any treatments mentioned during TOGA medical education may differ between Regions. Please refer to your local prescribing information for further details.

---------------

Support TOGA

Thank you for listening to Conversations in Lung Cancer Research. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

---------------

Connect with TOGA

Attend an Event: https://thoraciconcology.org.au/events/

Become a Member: Join the TOGA community at https://thoraciconcology.org.au/membership/

Donate: Support our research and treatment initiatives at https://thoraciconcology.org.au/support-us/donate/

Follow Us

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thoracic-oncology-group-of-australasia/

X (Twitter): https://x.com/TOGAANZ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/togaanz/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Thoracic_Oncology

---------------

Acknowledgement of Country

The Thoracic Oncology Group of Australasia Limited acknowledges Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait cultures; and to Elders past and present.

Lung cancer screening works. Earlier detection of lung cancer presents a vastly different prognosis. Stage I disease has a median 5 year survival of greater than 65%, whereas metastatic disease has a 5 year median survival rate of 15-20%. It is time to shift the perception of a lung cancer diagnosis to that of a treatable cancer with a potential cure, through a combination of early-stage detection, and effective communication that newer treatments offer better survival and QoL. The recently released Cancer Australia Report on lung cancer screening has been presented to the Health Minister and is awaiting actions. 

Dr Emily Stone, Respiratory Physician from St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, interviews Professor Kwun Fong, Thoracic and Sleep Physician at The Prince Charles Hospital, Brisbane. Both are long time advocates and researchers in early screening for lung cancer and they discuss the challenges of implementing a lung cancer screening program.

---------------

Support TOGA

Thank you for listening to Conversations in Lung Cancer Research. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

---------------

Connect with TOGA

Attend an Event: https://thoraciconcology.org.au/events/

Become a Member: Join the TOGA community at https://thoraciconcology.org.au/membership/

Donate: Support our research and treatment initiatives at https://thoraciconcology.org.au/support-us/donate/

Follow Us

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thoracic-oncology-group-of-australasia/

X (Twitter): https://x.com/TOGAANZ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/togaanz/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Thoracic_Oncology

---------------

Acknowledgement of Country

The Thoracic Oncology Group of Australasia Limited acknowledges Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait cultures; and to Elders past and present.

Australia has one of the highest incidence rates of mesothelioma in the world.

Mesothelioma is a form of cancer that most often affects the thin linings of the organs in the chest (pleura) and abdomen (peritoneum). Mesothelioma is closely linked with asbestos exposure either at work or among family members of workers and people living in neighbourhoods near asbestos factories and mines. The risk is lifelong.

TOGA, the Thoracic Oncology Group of Australasia, is working to positively change the outcome for patients with mesothelioma through an innovative clinical trials program and by providing medical education & awareness.

In this Podcast, we talk with Professor Anna Nowak, Pro Vice Chancellor at UWA, Medical Oncologist and Director of the National Centre for Asbestos Related Diseases and Medical Oncologist Dr Steven Kao from the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse with a special interest in predictive and prognostic factors in mesothelioma, about emerging treatments for mesothelioma patients and the DREAM3R trial.

In a successful partnership spanning US, Australia and New Zealand, TOGA investigators are collaborating with PrECOG and NHMRC CTC and have opened a Phase III trial called DREAM3R investigating the addition of immunotherapy to chemotherapy in patients with newly diagnosed malignant pleural mesothelioma. Australia has one of the highest incidence rates of mesothelioma in the world, and new promising therapies are desperately needed. The DREAM3R trial follows on from the exciting Phase II clinical trial results in PrECOG’s PrE0505 trial https://rb.gy/q44it3 and the Australian DREAM trial https://rb.gy/lrkhvo that both showed early promising results with the chemotherapy and durvalumab combination. More information on the DREAM3R trial can be found here: https://rb.gy/2h9f5v and https://rb.gy/rkznyt’

Further trial information available here:

https://rb.gy/2h9f5v and https://rb.gy/rkznyt

---------------

Support TOGA

Thank you for listening to Conversations in Lung Cancer Research. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

---------------

Connect with TOGA

Attend an Event: https://thoraciconcology.org.au/events/

Become a Member: Join the TOGA community at https://thoraciconcology.org.au/membership/

Donate: Support our research and treatment initiatives at https://thoraciconcology.org.au/support-us/donate/

Follow Us

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thoracic-oncology-group-of-australasia/

X (Twitter): https://x.com/TOGAANZ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/togaanz/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Thoracic_Oncology

---------------

Acknowledgement of Country

The Thoracic Oncology Group of Australasia Limited acknowledges Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait cultures; and to Elders past and present.