- Richard, 60
Seeking balance between survival and quality of life.
Richard is diagnosed with head and neck cancer. The guideline recommendation for treatment is surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Upon learning that the recommended surgery would remove much of his jaw, tongue, and larynx, Richard is hesitant because it would greatly impact his eating, drinking, and speaking abilities — severely impacting his quality of life. Ardynn and the real-world data it provided helped Richard decide to pursue a treatment plan different from the guideline recommendation – a decision that brought him great peace of mind.
About
Priorities
Key Concern
Treatment Decision
Richard is a physicist at a large company and an associate university professor. He greatly enjoys teaching and lecturing. In his free time, he enjoys traveling.
After a series of tests, Richard is diagnosed with head and neck cancer. The guideline recommendation for treatment is surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Richard meets with the surgeon and learns that the recommended surgery would remove much of his jaw, tongue, and larynx. He is hesitant to undergo this procedure due to quality of life
concerns — this would greatly impact his eating, drinking, and speaking abilities, making it difficult to continue to work and lecture, and significantly changing life as he knows it.
He seeks second and third opinions hoping to receive some clarity, but becomes overwhelmed by the options and conflicting information online. As an academic, Richard wants to understand the probabilities and outcomes so he can adequately weigh the quality-of-life tradeoffs associated with his treatment decision.
Then Richard learns about Ardynn — a benefit available through his employer. A cancer-specialized Ardynn advocate meets with Richard to learn more about him, his recent diagnosis and his goals, and shows him survival curves derived from the treatment outcomes of other people the same age, sex, race, cancer type and overall health status – including the 5-year survival rate without treatment. They discuss the benefits and tradeoffs of each treatment option in the context of what is most important to Richard, enabling him to truly understand his options and what each would mean to him. A report summarizing what was discussed allows Richard to easily share with his care team.
Outcomes for people like me
Richard’s Ardynn advocate prepares a report to share with him, which includes outcomes for people like Richard. This data – and insights derived from it – are unique to Ardynn, and helped Richard feel confident in moving forward.
Information about Richard
Diagnosis: Head & Neck Cancer
Age: 60
Sex: M
Race/Ethnicity: White
Comorbidity Score: None
Histology: Squamous Cell Carcinoma
T (Primary): T2
N (Regional): N0
M (Distant): M0
Subsite: Larynx
HPV: Negative
Real-world survival outcomes for people like Richard
Scroll to view columns >
Survival Curve | Graphically Depicted | After 1 yr | After 2 yrs | After 3 yrs | After 4 yrs | After 5 yrs |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total population The purple line depicts estimated survival for similar individuals | 99% | 99% | 98% | 97% | 96% | |
Similar patients, same type of cancer, no treatment The teal line depicts estimated survival for similar individuals who did not receive treatment for their Head And Neck Cancer | 71% | 56% | 48% | 42% | 36% | |
Treatments):Chemotherapy and Radiation The green line depicts estimated survival for similar individuals treated with chemotherapy and radiation. | 79% | 68% | 60% | 55% | 49% | |
Treatment(s): Surgery, Chemotherapy and Radiation The yellow line depicts estimated survival for similar individuals treated with surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. | 81% | 70% | 63% | 58% | 52% | |
Treatment(s): Chemotherapy The red line depicts estimated survival for similar individuals treated with chemother | 67% | 51% | 42% | 35% | 29% | |
Treatment(s): Radiation The blue line depicts estimated survival for similar individuals treated with radiation. | 78% | 65% | 58% | 52% | 46% |
Treatment decision
With information and insights in hand, and after discussing his concerns about surgery and chemotherapy, Richard and his oncologist decide to forgo surgery and chemotherapy, electing only radiation therapy. This option allows Richard to remain comfortable — and able to do what he loves for as long as possible.
This story is illustrative based on a real Ardynn case; name and likeness of the member has been changed to respect their privacy.
RICHARD
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