Send us a text On this episode of Oncology Unscripted, patient advocates Julie Johnson and Katie Coleman and radiation oncologist Dr. Matt Spraker host radiologist Dr. Costa Raptis, MD. We start by discussing the process of acquiring and interpreting radiographic images. What happens after you get your scan, and how do radiologists read them and generate reports? Also, how can patients know they are getting the right type of scan? We review some details of CT, MRI, and PET/CT scans.&n...

Send us a text On this episode of Oncology Unscripted, patient advocate Katie Coleman and radiation oncologist Dr. Matt Spraker host another radiation oncologist, Dr. Shankar Siva, PhD, MBBS, FRANZCR. Shankar is an oncologist and professor at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Victoria, Australia, and a specialist in genitourinary cancers, such as Kidney Cancer. We discuss stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR, aka SBRT) for kidney cancer! We review many of the studies that ...

Send us a text On this episode of Oncology Unscripted, patient advocates Julie Johnson and Katie Coleman and radiation oncologist Dr. Matt Spraker start to discuss scanxiety. Matt starts by sharing ASCO guidelines, one framework to assist oncologists and patients treat anxiety that comes up at diagnosis and throughout cancer treatment. Then Julie and Katie share their experiences and thoughts about how they have coped with anxiety around tests, scan intervals, and the possibility of fut...

Send us a text On this episode of Oncology Unscripted, patient advocates Julie Johnson and Katie Coleman and radiation oncologist Dr. Matt Spraker host Dr. Michelle Hirsch, MD, PhD. She is a pathologist and Chief of the Genitourinary Pathology Division at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard University. In this episode, we cover all things pathology! We kick off by discussing the role of the pathologist in the cancer care team. How do these doctors train and what do they do e...

Send us a text On this episode of Oncology Unscripted, patient advocates Julie Johnson and Katie Coleman and radiation oncologist Dr. Matt Spraker host physical therapist Dr. Hillary Hinrichs and researcher Dr. Kelley Wood (@kcwood_phd on X) to discuss exercise and cancer rehabilitation. We kick off our discussion with an important question. What is cancer rehabilitation, and how is this different than exercise? Then, we discuss how patients can find out how cancer rehabilitatio...

Send us a text On this episode of Oncology Unscripted, patient advocates Julie Johnson and Katie Coleman and radiation oncologist Dr. Matt Spraker subject each other to an "Ask Me Anything"! Here are the questions we asked each other: 1. What do you wish doctors and other people without cancer knew about how the diagnosis actually changed your day to day life? 2. What do you wish more patients knew or did early in their diagnosis? 3. What is one thing you'd like to see changed or...

Send us a text On this episode of Oncology Unscripted, patient advocates Julie Johnson and Katie Coleman and radiation oncologist Dr. Matt Spraker start to discuss how patients might pick their doctor. Here links to some things we discussed during the show: United Health Care, 7 tips for choosing a primary care doctor.US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Choosing a Doctor: Quick Tips.Blue Cross Blue Shield, Five tips for choosin...

Send us a text Oncology Unscripted co-hosts Julie Johnson, Katie Coleman, and Dr. Matt Spraker welcome Dr. Breelyn Wilky, MD to discuss immunotherapy for sarcomas and other cancers. We start by explaining some general details of immunotherapy and how it works, then dive in to the unknowns surrounding the exciting therapy. We discuss what biological features of tumors and patient tissues may predict response to immunotherapy, "immune hot versus cold" tumors, and how immunotherapy may be co...

Send us a text On this episode of Oncology Unscripted, patient advocates Julie Johnson and Katie Coleman and radiation oncologist Dr. Matt Spraker continue The Insider's Guide to Radiation Therapy! Here are the figures/graphics we referenced during the show: The first figure we discussed, demonstrating the Bragg Peak and the difference between proton and photon (x-ray) beams. The second figure we discussed, comparing 3D photon (x-ray) radiation, intensity modulated radiotherapy wi...

Send us a text On this episode of Oncology Unscripted, patient advocates Julie Johnson and Katie Coleman and radiation oncologist Dr. Matt Spraker continue The Insider's Guide to Radiation Therapy! This four episode series will cover radiation 101, stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), and proton therapy! In this episode, we discuss SBRT, alternatively called stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR). We also discuss a related treatment, stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). He...

Send us a text On this episode of Oncology Unscripted, patient advocates Julie Johnson and Katie Coleman and radiation oncologist Dr. Matt Spraker continue The Insider's Guide to Radiation Therapy! This four episode series will cover radiation 101, stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), and proton therapy! In this episode, we complete radiation 101, covering 2 more important points to understand radiotherapy: 1. How are radiation plans created and delivered, and how has this imp...

Send us a text On this episode of Oncology Unscripted, patient advocates Julie Johnson and Katie Coleman and radiation oncologist Dr. Matt Spraker kick of The Insider's Guide to Radiation Therapy! This four episode series will cover radiation 101, stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), and proton therapy! Radiation 101 covers the basics you need to know in order to understand how oncologists think about and use radiotherapy to kill cancer. In this episode we discuss two important...

Send us a text On this episode of Oncology Unscripted, patient advocates Julie Johnson and Katie Coleman and radiation oncologist Dr. Matt Spraker discuss Julie and Katie's recent trip to ASCO 2023. Here are some things that were discussed during the show: Katie's Twitter thread on ASCO 2023Info on ASCO's Patient Advocacy MembershipSARC TrialsASCO VoicesOncology Unscripted is a Photon Media production. Intro and Outro music by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago. Additiona...

Send us a text On this episode of Oncology Unscripted, patient advocates Julie Johnson and Katie Coleman and radiation oncologist Dr. Matt Spraker discuss artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine and ChatGPT! We first discuss the software and some other examples of AI in medicine. Then Matt goes head to head against ChatGPT answering questions that Julie or Katie might ask their doctors in the middle of the night. We close with some recommendations on how patients can use ChatGPT to i...

Send us a text Welcome to Oncology Unscripted, hosted by patient advocates Julie Johnson and Katie Coleman and radiation oncologist Dr. Matt Spraker. This week Julie, Katie, and Matt discuss some oncology terms. Who works in oncology clinics? We discuss some of the people you might interact with when visiting your doctor. Matt shares how radiation, medical, and surgical oncologists are trained, and clarifies the difference between medial students, residents, and fellows. We close with a di...

Send us a text Patient advocates Julie Johnson and Katie Coleman team up with radiation oncologist Dr. Matt Spraker to "meet in the middle" for a candid podcast about cancer care for patients and people working in field. In this episode we discuss the second opinion, seeking an alternate recommendation from a different doctor outside the main team. We start by reviewing Katie's Twitter polls that asked patients' and doctors' their feelings on the topic. We then some cases where secon...

Send us a text Welcome to Oncology Unscripted! In this new podcast, patient advocates Julie Johnson and Katie Coleman team up with radiation oncologist Dr. Matt Spraker to "meet in the middle" for a candid podcast about cancer for patients and doctors. In the premier episode, Julie and Katie share their diagnosis stories to kick off a conversation about their initial experiences. We cover a wide range of topics: getting diagnosed in a breast center versus the emergency room, types of scans ...