But in many other cases, Agarwal said there\u2019s a missed opportunity for health teams to also be proactive in addressing predictable side effects that can come with treatment, and integrating care from other specialties like urology and cardiology ahead of time.\n<\/p>\n
For example, many patients who\u2019ve had prostate cancer can develop urinary incontinence, erectile dysfunction, bowel problems and fatigue. But too often, Agarwal said people are left to deal with the post-cancer effects on their own while trying to navigate a fragmented health care system.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThe patient becomes a project manager,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd they\u2019re not equipped to do that, unfortunately.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Long-term side effects can also involve the emotional and psychological aspects of surviving cancer. Discussing and making a health plan for what patients want to achieve after cancer treatment can be important for someone to not only survive, but thrive after they are cured of disease, Agarwal said.\n <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve really seen a lot of people kind of return to a state where they\u2019re really happy with their lives, they\u2019re really thriving. Their relationships are thriving, their health is thriving,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
While some larger health systems and cancer centers across the country have invested in expanding survivorship programs and support services, Agarwal said progress in this space has been uneven and there\u2019s a lot more work to be done to close gaps in care.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI really do think now in 2026, we can guide people,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd if they\u2019re not part of a big system, we could still guide them in the right direction.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"But in many other cases, Agarwal said there\u2019s a missed opportunity for health teams to also be proactive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9328,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-280784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-cancer","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}