Moving forward
Improving outcomes is a force that drives the Dana-Farber/BWH program. Both institutions were involved in the rapid pace of improvements that occurred in transplant care in the '70s and '80s. Now, according to Antin, physicians are focusing on the steady, gradual improvements that impact all aspects of transplant and have continually improved the rate of success, which today nears a 70 percent survival rate for patients with leukemia.
"We try to get a sense of what each patient or family member would find helpful."
— Social worker Irene Goss-Werner, L.I.C.S.W.
The program's general goals are to reduce the toxicity of treatments, lower the relapse rate by eradicating cancer cells, and, with improved treatments and less toxicity, increase the number of patients who can receive transplants. Currently, the program is involved in almost 20 clinical trials, and many of the physicians' labs are undertaking the molecular-level studies that will translate into improved treatments.
"If we increase our success rate for a particular type of cancer from 40 to 65 percent, we ask ourselves, 'Why not 100 percent?'" says Soiffer. Adds Antin, "We will never be satisfied with the way things are done now. We have a lot of work to do."
