Browsing by Author "Sajdyk, Tammy"

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    Characteristics and Challenges of Providing Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine in Oncology Treatment: Report of Survey Data and Experience of Five Unique Clinical Settings
    (Sage, 2024) Veleber, Susan; Cohen, Misha Ruth; Weitzman, Matthew; Maimon, Yair; Adamo, Christine A.; Siman, Jonathan; Lu, Weidong; Sajdyk, Tammy; Stone, Jennifer A. M.; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Acupuncture is an integrative therapy with strong evidence to support its use in the oncology setting, yet barriers exist for implementation into conventional medical clinics. Though acupuncture is recommended in clinical practice guidelines for oncology, there is little data in the literature showing how acupuncture and other related therapies, including herbal medicine are successfully implemented in some oncology clinics, while others experience barriers to care. To characterize the current use of acupuncture (ACU) and herbal medicine (HM) in oncology clinics, we collected general demographic and usage data from 5 example clinics. In addition, to better understand the barriers faced by ACU and HM clinics in implementing acupuncture as a treatment modality, a survey was deployed to 2320 members of the Society for Integrative Oncology. This article examines the characteristics of oncology settings around the world, and shares data from the survey on the use of these therapies in the field of oncology. The primary barrier to acupuncture care, as reported by providers, was cost. With just under 70% of the oncologists reporting it as the most important obstacle. Additional barriers to implementation included concerns about competency and training, accessibility and safety of herbal medicine during treatment. Though acupuncture is being incorporated into more conventional oncology settings, organized strategies for implementation involving payers and policymakers is needed.
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    How Pediatric Hematologic and Oncologic Patients Experienced Virtual Learning During COVID-19: Importance of Amplifying the Family Voice for Informing Future Recommendations
    (Indiana University, 2020) Rose, Margaret; LaMotte, Julia; Todd, Hannah; Fraser, Greer; Fraser, Louise; Renbarger, Jamie; Romack, Donna; Sajdyk, Tammy; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
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    A Metabolomics Approach for Early Prediction of Vincristine-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy
    (Springer, 2020-04-15) Verma, Parul; Devaraj, Jayachandran; Skiles, Jodi L.; Sajdyk, Tammy; Ho, Richard H.; Hutchinson, Raymond; Wells, Elizabeth; Li, Lang; Renbarger, Jamie; Cooper, Bruce; Ramkrishna, Doraiswami; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Vincristine is a core chemotherapeutic drug administered to pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients. Despite its efficacy in treating leukemia, it can lead to severe peripheral neuropathy in a subgroup of the patients. Peripheral neuropathy is a debilitating and painful side-effect that can severely impact an individual’s quality of life. Currently, there are no established predictors of peripheral neuropathy incidence during the early stage of chemotherapeutic treatment. As a result, patients who are not susceptible to peripheral neuropathy may receive sub-therapeutic treatment due to an empirical upper cap on the dose, while others may experience severe neuropathy at the same dose. Contrary to previous genomics based approaches, we employed a metabolomics approach to identify small sets of metabolites that can be used to predict a patient’s susceptibility to peripheral neuropathy at different time points during the treatment. Using those identified metabolites, we developed a novel strategy to predict peripheral neuropathy and subsequently adjust the vincristine dose accordingly. In accordance with this novel strategy, we created a free user-friendly tool, VIPNp, for physicians to easily implement our prediction strategy. Our results showed that focusing on metabolites, which encompasses both genotypic and phenotypic variations, can enable early prediction of peripheral neuropathy in pediatric leukemia patients.