A new season of Kentucky Health, hosted by Dr. Wayne Tuckson, launches with an in-depth look at the evolution of cancer treatment options, including new trends that may transform the face of modern oncology.

Kentucky Health airs Sundays at 10:30/9:30 am on KET beginning Sept. 27, and Wednesdays at 7/6 pm on KET2 beginning Sept. 30.

On the series’ season premiere from KET’s Main Street studio in Louisville, Tuckson is joined by hematologist/oncologist Khuda Dad Khan, MD, PhD, from Cancer and Blood Specialists in Louisville.

Traditional chemotherapy can produce serious side effects in some patients and can target and kill not only cancerous cells but also normal cells as well. Khan and Tuckson review new cancer-fighting techniques that hope to avoid the pitfalls of traditional chemotherapy — including what are known as “targeted therapies.”

Targeted therapies focus on turning “off,” or blocking, the mechanisms that cause cell division, and consequently do not harm normal cells.

Khan and Tuckson also address “immunotherapy,” which employs the body’s own immune system in the fight against cancer cells. To date, immunotherapy techniques have been approved in the treatment of certain forms of melanoma and lung cancer.

While these therapies are promising, Khan acknowledges that there is still much work to be done before they will be an available tool for treating all cancers and all patients.

Kentucky Health is a KET production, co-produced by Dr. Wayne Tuckson and Laura Krueger. Mike Brower is the executive producer.

KET is Kentucky’s largest classroom, serving more than one million people each week via television, online and mobile. Learn more about Kentucky’s preeminent public media organization on Twitter @KET and facebook.com/KET and at KET.org.

Contact:

Todd Piccirilli
Senior Director, Marketing and Communications
859-258-7242
tpiccirilli@ket.org