Thanks for having me! #stjudechat

T1: Usually annual visits with their primary physician or a long-term survivorship specialist. #stjudechat

T1: Ideally, a survivor should have a long-term survivorship care plan that includes treatment and guides their future care #stjudechat

T1: It's best if the primary team that treated your cancer creates the survivorship care plan. #stjudechat

T1: Unfortunately, it's not standard. Everyone should have a survivorship care plan, but not everyone does. #stjudechat

T1: Hopefully, your primary cancer tx team can provide your primary care doctor w a long-term survivorship care plan. Dr. Vicky Forster #stjudechat

T2: Survivors should be aware that there r guidelines for long-term follow-up, developed by the Children's Oncology Group (COG) #stjudechat

T2: Survivors are often cared for in a cancer center, but then go home. Communication between those doctors can be difficult #stjudechat

T2: That's why having a cancer survivorship plan is so important. It really helps with the coordination of care & communication #stjudechat

T3: Good news is that survivors from the 1990s have lower mortality rates and longer lifespans than their predecessors #stjudechat

T3: We've identified lower mortality rates due to secondary cancers and heart disease. And that's good news for survivors! #stjudechat

T3: Improvement in survival is due to the fact that we've reduced amount of tx a patient would recieve for certain key cancers #stjudechat

T4: We need to not only extend their lifespan, but extend their health span #stjudechat

T4: We can do this thru early detection of late effects and intervention studies that reduce the risk of late effects. #stjudechat

T3: The 15-year all-cause mortality has decreased significantly from the 1970s through the 1980s and 90s. #stjudechat

T5: we should continue to identify patients with low-risk cancers. #stjudechat

T7: As soon as they've completed therapy for their primary cancer. Some late effects can happen early... they're not always late #stjudechat

T8: The future of today's cancer survivors is brighter than survivors from earlier decades bc of advances in upfront therapy #stjudechat

.Greg Armstrong, MD Yay!! Yes, tailored treatments, controlled dosages, win-win for patients. #stjudechat

You can read more about the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study in USA TODAY Health usatoday.com/story/news/201… #stjudechat