Interdisciplinary Approach in Hematological Cancers

Hematological cancers, namely leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma, are malignancies with high mortality and morbidity rates. Despite the advances in the treatment of these cancers, the survival rate of patients has not been much improved. These cancers also detrimentally affect patients’ quality of life during the surviving years. The nature of hematological cancers and also the various treatment approaches, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), have the potential to involve other body systems, leading to neurological, psychological, renal, cardiovascular, metabolic and endocrine, gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal, reproductive, and ocular complications. This chapter reviews the involvement of different organ systems in hematologic cancers. These complications may further deteriorate the prognosis, impair the quality of life, reduce patients’ compliance to treatment, and contribute to high morbidity and mortality. Moreover, a growing body of evidence supports the significant roles of the immune system in tumorigenesis facilitating the progression of hematological cancers by mediating different mechanisms, including immune escape, immune suppression, and cancer-promoting cytokine balance in the tumor microenvironment. Therefore, immunotherapies have drawn considerable attention in addition to the conventional treatments targeting the tumor cells. To conclude, patients with hematologic cancers require a multidisciplinary healthcare team, including oncologists, cardiologists, internists, neurologists, psychiatrists, nephrologists, rheumatologists, and ophthalmologists. Interdisciplinary approaches are critical in improving quality of life, treatment adherence, and survival of these patients.