FWIW, at my chemo appointments they weighed every patient every single time and based the dose that day on that day’s weight (and blood pressure, and CBC results).
Who would have thought this was something you’d have to know to ask your doctor? As the article said, you’re not thinking entirely rationally after a cancer diagnosis anyway. It’s a tough time to catch up on all the latest research just to make sure your oncologist is doing it right.
“so they go through the whole ordeal with no benefit, in the extreme case ,” said Dr. Jennifer Griggs”
Horrifying to think that many doctors are doing this to a percentage of their patients.
It is fairly typical for the obese to have substandard care, doctors don’t want to address the obesity or if they do they are offensive in doing so and many tend to have a hard time looking beyond it to see the person. I bet if we looked at obesity alone and were able to rule out co-morbitities one would find similar issues with ER treatment, gynecology, obstetrics, asthma, etc… Hell, I have experienced it. When one is obese you have to advocate more and be more suspicious because bigotry about obesity is socially okay and in a medical setting, “justified”.
The childhood leukemia doctors figured out, several decades ago, that the dose should be proportional to body surface area. This is calculated from height and weight by a formula. Given that pediatric patients may be anywhere from 10 to 200 lbs, this is essential for patient survival.
If the grown-up cancer doctors are not using this method, then they are ignoring the best practice of the pioneers in the field.
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