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Cancer Care for the Underrepresented #Octoberis4Livers

Welcome back to Liver Cancer News! As we mark Liver Cancer Awareness Month in October, we’re emphasizing the critical role of education and awareness in the fight against liver cancer through the #OctoberIs4Livers campaign. Read on for more information about the campaign and for updates on liver cancer care & prevention – especially for populations that face disparities in liver cancer care.

 

October Is Liver Cancer Awareness Month

The #OctoberIs4Livers campaign is the first and only global campaign to raise public awareness about liver cancer, improve clinical practices, and shape policies around prevention, detection, and treatment.

This year, under the theme of Addressing Disparities in Liver Cancer Care, GLI continues to drive liver health equity by connecting with diverse communities around the world to push boundaries among the liver cancers community. Register for our policy briefing and roundtable discussions focusing on rural communities, American Indian and Indigenous People in Canada, and the U.S. Veteran community, held on Thursdays at 1pm ET.

Learn the latest in the field from weekly episodes of GLI LIVE, broadcasted on Wednesdays at 12pm ET. Additionally, GLI continues to expand its Global Open House series, a hallmark of the campaign, where hospitals and organizations worldwide open their doors to offer community-based learning experiences, such as expert presentations, Q&A sessions, and facility tours. Share the word and be a part of the campaign by checking out our toolkit, together we can make a difference.

OI4L 2024 Opening Graphic (1)

 

How Times Have Changed in Indigenous Cancer Care

Arrow Big Smoke, a Blackfoot woman from the Piikani Nation, serves as an Indigenous Cancer Patient Nurse Navigator with Cancer Care Alberta. Patricia Yellow Horn is a passionate community advocate and leader. In a recent article for Alberta Doctors’ Digest, the two discuss the efforts to provide comprehensive cancer care for Indigenous Nations. They emphasize that systemic biases and stereotypes within healthcare have created deep mistrust and limited access for Indigenous peoples. To advance early detection and treatment, Indigenous cancer survivors must be empowered, and Elders, family, culture, and tradition must be integrated into care plans.

 

Women with Liver Cancer Less Likely than Men to Receive Liver Transplant

A recent article from JAMA has found that women with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are less likely to receive a liver transplant and more likely to die or be taken off the transplant wait list than men with HCC. In an invited commentary on the article, Allan Tsung, a professor of surgical oncology at the University of Virginia, suggests that women’s Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) scores are underestimated, in addition to concerns about size mismatch. Even though the MELD scoring has been adjusted to better reflect women’s condition, this disparity underscores the need for additional changes to organ allocation policy.

 

The First and Only Subcutaneous Anti-PD-(L)1 Cancer Immunotherapy has been approved

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Genentech’s Tecentriq Hybreza (atezolizumab and hyaluronidase-tqjs), the first and only PD-(L)1 inhibitor available as a subcutaneous injection. This new option significantly reduces treatment time from 30-60 minutes for standard IV infusions to approximately seven minutes, compared to the 30-60 minutes required for standard intravenous (IV) infusions of Tecentriq (atezolizumab). Treatment will be available for HCC and certain types of lung, skin, and soft tissue cancers. In clinical studies, patients preferred injection over the IV form, citing shorter clinic visits, increased comfort, and reduced emotional stress as key benefits.

 

What Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander People Should Know About Cancer Risk: An Expert’s View

The Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) population in the US has doubled in the past two decades. This growing, heterogeneous population (now 8% of the total population) faces unique risks and challenges in developing cancer and receiving care. In a post for the American Cancer Society, cancer survivor and advocate Tingting Zhang, PhD, emphasizes the importance of understanding individual cancer risk and discussing it with family members and healthcare providers – who may not be familiar with the risk factors specific to AANHPI populations. To improve care for these communities, healthcare systems should provide resources to address language barriers, and high-quality, cross-border studies are needed to provide evidence to support AANHPI-specific screening recommendations.

 

Direct-Acting Antivirals: A Powerful Tool to Prevent Liver Cancer

People infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) are at an increased risk of liver cancer, and it remains a leading cause of liver cancer. In the past ten years, a groundbreaking treatment option called direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapy has been shown to cure more than 95% of cases. When hepatitis C is cured, not only is the virus undetectable in one’s bloodstream, but there are also several benefits to well-being, including decreased fatigue and better sleep. Learn more in GLI’s recent blog post.

 

Single-Fraction Radiotherapy Improves Pain in Hepatic Cancer

A study published in Lancet Oncology found that combining single-fraction radiotherapy with best supportive care significantly improved pain symptoms in patients with hepatic cancer. In the trial, 67% of patients receiving radiotherapy alongside supportive care experienced a reduction of at least 2 points in their worst pain intensity score, compared to just 22% in the group receiving supportive care alone. This combination could serve as an effective palliative treatment option, especially in low- and middle-income countries where access to costly cancer therapies and analgesics is limited.

 

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For more information about the Liver Cancers Council or to learn more about joining, please visit https://globalliver.org/liver-cancers-council/ or email cancer@globalliver.org