Likewise, Dr. Calabrese said he is already seeing approximately two new referrals per week for adverse events related to these relatively new therapies.
“It’s far outstripped our notion of what we thought we would be doing,” he said in an interview.
Systems have been set up to encourage interprofessional collaborations, he added, including a “virtual referral clinic” where advanced practitioners working with oncologists communicate with advanced practitioners in each of the specialty areas that are most frequently consulted in order to help facilitate care and triage patients.
In addition, a monthly irAE tumor board was set up to include only cases that have manifest autoimmune or autoinflammatory complications.
“We have a growing group of people who come to this from each area involved, whether it be nephrology, neurology, ophthalmology, gastroenterology, rheumatology, or something else,” Dr. Calabrese said. “That’s been a great learning experience for all of us to talk about these adverse events in real time.”