Practical Tools for Managing Immunotherapy Toxicities
This section provides links to documents we call Care Step Pathways, which are valuable tools to address toxicities associated with immunotherapy. Below you will find a Care Step Pathway for each toxicity related to immunotherapy treatment.
AIM with Immunotherapy’s Care Step Pathways combine the latest management strategies from ASCO, the NCCN, and the relevant drug manufacturer for immune-related adverse event grading and management into one document to help you better care for your patients. Each Care Step Pathway contains four sections with information about assessment, grading, management, and “red flags” in a colorful and easy-to-use format:
1. Assessment: The “Look, Listen, and Recognize” section guides oncology health care providers to a specific set of symptom-related questions to ask the patient and/or caregiver as well as additional information to consider as part of the clinical assessment.
2. Grading Toxicity: The Common Terminology (or Toxicity) Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) for grading is used to allow interpretation of subjective symptoms in an objective manner. These criteria employ a grading system—from 1 (mild) to 4 (life-threatening)—to represent that toxicity defined by specific parameters according to the organ system involved.
3. Management: The section addressing management focuses on the practical, nurse-led interventions that health care providers undertake, as well as anticipatory guidance regarding drug holds/discontinuations, dosage adjustments, and other strategies.
4. Red flags: Important reminders to intervene rapidly at the recognition of signs/symptoms of serious, life-threatening manifestations of adverse events.
Care Step Pathways
