Key points from today’s guests:
Morning Rounds – Updates on Current News
Larry R. Corum, M.D., medical oncologist, The University of Kansas Cancer Center
- Olathe Health Cancer Center is now The University of Kansas Cancer Center.
- Our usual business is taking care of cancer patients and we've done that on the Olathe campus for nearly 40 years.
- But what's changing is cancer therapy is becoming much more complex. What's needed in the modern era to really take care of cancer patients is a multidisciplinary team of cancer experts, researchers, and more.
- This integration into The University of Kansas Health System and into the University of Kansas Cancer Center allows us to immediately expand our team, our army of cancer researchers, clinicians, researchers, etc., and allows us to improve the care of our patients.
- This offers us a new really a plethora of new options, including clinical trials that we might not have previously had access to.
Focus Topic
Steve Stites, M.D., chief medical officer, The University of Kansas Health System
- GLP-1 is a class of drugs originally approved as diabetes treatments, and they're very successful, but they're increasingly being used as anti-obesity treatments.
- It's nice to have a new option for the millions of Americans living with obesity, but also with diabetes, and heart disease.
- However, the supply of these GLP-1 drugs simply is not meeting demand.
- We're looking at ways to navigate the supply chain issues and learning more about how these drugs fit into the bigger picture of metabolic and obesity events.
- So much of our environment shapes who we are and I think we have to have a reckoning between industry, health, nutrition, and start really having that conversation. What does it mean to be a healthy eater? What does it mean to make sure we treat obesity as a disease and not as a personal fault?
Johanna Peterson, M.D., internal medicine specialist, The University of Kansas Health System
- Obesity was formally classified as a disease by the American Medical Association about 10 years ago and that was a big deal.
- It changes the way that we think about it and the way that a lot of people view obesity -- it's not a lack of willpower, not a lack of effort -- it's a disease that we can effectively treat just like we do hypertension, diabetes, and other things that we see in clinical medicine.
- The GLP-1class of medications have really been a game changer in the treatment for obesity.
- Where it's really impactful is how it affects our brain and how it affects the hunger signals.
- Overall, these medications are really great because we can use them in patients that are very medically complex.
- Exercise is important even if weight loss doesn’t occur.
Rick Couldry, R.Ph., vice president, Pharmacy and Health Professions, The University of Kansas Health System
- Demand outpaces supply and it’s a big problem. We have over 1,000 patients waiting on backorder medications right now.
- Opening new manufacturing plants is a complicated process because the FDA closely regulates manufacturing.
- The demand is going up through FDA approving more indications for these drugs. So that expands more people that can get the medications and that also increases demand and we can’t catch up.
- We want to look at ways to help with affordability and other ways to help with lifestyle.
Cliff Erwin, using Zepbound for weight loss
- Cliff topped out at over 300 pounds at one point and talked to his doctor about making changes.
- In 2022, at the recommendation of his doctor, he started taking GLP-1 drugs.
- He lost about 50 pounds with diet and exercise changes in the first year.
- Insurance stopped covering his GLP-1 drugs, so he was rationing doses before he was approved for Zepbound.
- He is glad there are drugs like this to help, but would caution people to not rely on them as it takes a change in lifestyle too.
Steve Herrmann, Ph.D., director, The University of Kansas Weight Management Program
- Obesity is a complicated disease.
- Providers in in our group can put a patient on the right path with the right treatment plan for them, which includes some health and wellness nutrition activity programming -- meeting with registered dieticians, one-on-one counseling, and support group settings.
- This helps patients identify high-quality foods, eat improved nutrition, and be active. Because we improve those things, we can improve health in a lot of areas.
- From a research space and in the clinical space, there is a change in thinking in how we talk with patients about managing their weight and their nutrition. In the past, the focus was on reducing calories and trying to help people feel full.
- And now we have some really effective drugs that can help with that part, so some of the conversation shifts to making sure we have foundational nutrition.
John Thyfault, Ph.D., co-director, KC-MORE; director, KU Diabetes Institute
- Our team is really interested in the rapid skeletal muscle mass loss that occurs on these drugs. If you lose a lot of muscle mass, that can negatively impact your function and your metabolism.
- The ultimate goal is to have healthy aging and be functional. There have been some studies proposed to start looking at ensuring that people do either aerobic or resistance exercise to help maintain that muscle mass.
- My concern is that as a physiologist and someone that studies exercise and metabolism, we don't forget these fundamental tenets that you need to be maintaining your activity, maintaining your strength and maintaining your physical function.
- Exercise is really critical for your mental health. It is optimally needed for healthy aging and physical function.
‘Hawk Talk’
Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control, The University of Kansas Health System
- We are going from respiratory viral season right to tick season.
- Tick season also includes mosquitoes and that typically runs April through October with the warmer climate now.
- It is important to understand that with more rain, there'll be more areas for the mosquitoes to breed especially if you have standing water on your property.
- West Nile Virus cases have been increasing the last couple of years, so it's very important to protect yourself from not only the mosquitoes, but the same thing you're doing for mosquitoes will protect yourself from ticks.
- A lot of people are focused on Lyme disease however, we don't really have a lot of Lyme disease around here. There are more concerns about diseases such as Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, ehrlichiosis, Heartland virus and bourbon virus as well. Those things are more prominent than Lyme disease, but they're all transferred by ticks.
- Wear long sleeves, do tick checks.
Thursday, May 16 at 8 a.m. is the next All Things Heart. You’ll meet Brian Pitts, a man on a years-long effort to save his failing heart. The incredible story of how he went from patient to survivor and now thriver.
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