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Blood cancers make up about 10% of all new cancer diagnosis

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    Cancers including leukemia,
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    lymphoma,
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    and myeloma make them about 10% of all new cancer diagnosis.
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    That's according to the National Foundation for Cancer Research,
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    and that is today's Health Watch.
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    Yeah,
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    so here with us today is Dr. Tara Gregory,
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    hematologist,
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    oncologist and medical director at the Colorado Blood Cancer Institute.
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    We are so excited that you're here with us today.
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    Thank you so much for having me.
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    I really appreciate it.
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    Absolutely!
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    Well,
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    first of all,
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    how is blood cancer different than other cancers?
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    Blood cancer is very different than other cancers in
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    terms of the way that we screen for it.
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    First of all,
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    many cancers you have routine screening like colonoscopies,
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    mammograms,
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    as you know,
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    blood cancer is one of those insidious
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    diseases.
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    Either people are diagnosed just happenstance by
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    seeing their primary care doctor,
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    getting some blood count,
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    something looks a little bit off,
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    or they can become very ill and end up in an emergency room in an urgent care center.
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    Yeah,
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    talk about those symptoms real quick.
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    What are the symptoms that people can look out
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    for and are there any early warning signs?
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    Sure,
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    definitely. I think in blood cancer it's important to know your body
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    how you normally
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    feel. We're specifically looking at people who are losing a lot of weight rapidly,
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    20
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    pounds without trying in a month.
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    It
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    can be severe sweats and I know a lot of us sweat at
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    night.
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    However,
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    we're talking about drenching sweats,
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    changing our clothes,
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    changing the
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    sheets,
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    those are some of the big things.
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    Fatigue,
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    not being able to get out and do the things that you enjoy,
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    or even,
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    you know,
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    used to be able to mow the yard,
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    no problem,
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    have to do that and go in and take a nap.
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    Okay,
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    great,
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    yeah,
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    it's great information.
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    What's
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    the treatment for those who have blood cancers and what's the survival rate?
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    Our treatments have
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    just been exploding over the last couple of years.
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    What I do today is not what I did 2 years ago,
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    and
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    each of those different cancers that
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    you mentioned have very specific different treatments.
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    I would see the newest thing that we're doing in blood cancer
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    is that we're looking at how to involve own immune systems
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    and recognizing our cancers and fighting them off.
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    And so, we're calling that immune effector cell therapy,
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    and that's become one of the most
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    high growth areas in treatment right now.
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    Now for those that have been diagnosed or
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    perhaps people that want to prevent this from happening,
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    is there may be like a recommended diet that people
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    can use or for even for treatments?
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    That's a great question.
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    Right now we have about 1.5 million patients in the
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    United States living with some form of blood cancer,
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    either
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    active or in remission.
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    What we do know in terms of diet,
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    both
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    for prevention and then for
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    maintaining your health
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    while
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    you're in treatment is as close as you can get to the Mediterranean diet.
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    So, rotating proteins,
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    lean proteins,
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    whole
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    grains,
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    really
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    moderate or reduced
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    on
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    wine intake,
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    that
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    sort of thing.
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    Very interesting.
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    Where
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    can we find more information about blood cancers?
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    The Leukemia Lymphoma Society has a fantastic website.
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    They
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    also have a program where they can connect patients
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    with
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    other patients who have gone through treatments similar to
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    what they'll go through and match them up together
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    so that they have that personal resource as well.
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    Very insightful,
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    Dr. Gregory.
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    Thank you so much for joining us.
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    Thanks so much for having me.
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    I appreciate it.
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    Of course.
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    And if you want to see this interview or other Health Watch interviews,
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    you could always go to our website CBSCOLORADO.com.
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    We'll be right back.
Title:
Blood cancers make up about 10% of all new cancer diagnosis
Description:

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Video Language:
English
Team:
BYU Continuing Education
Project:
MEDIC-051(BYUO)
Duration:
03:03

English subtitles

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