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Episode 414: Radiation Site-Specific Side Effects: Lung Cancer

Release Date: 05/08/2026

Episode 428: Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Treatment Considerations for Oncology Nurses

The ONS Podcast

“Measurable residual disease is where I think the terminology fits best in that, it is intended to measure the amount of cancer cells that are present in the blood or bone marrow at the time the sample was collected. We can identify one cancer cell in a million. Where that can be really valuable is when we start to think about the duration of treatments and the response to some of our treatments,” ONS member Caitilin Murphy, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, AOCNP®, chief nurse practitioner at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA, told Lenise Taylor, MN, RN, AOCNS®, TCTCN™, oncology clinical...

Episode 427: Pharmacology 101: Resistance Pathways

The ONS Podcast

“A good way of thinking about this is this is the survival of the fittest clone. There could be a portion of a cancer that naturally has some resistance or ability to survive a particular drug. And over time, as the other cells around it are dying off, that particular clone is able to replicate and continue to survive in the face of that drug therapy and eventually take over as being the fittest clone. At that point, we’re often seeing disease progression,” Danielle Roman, PharmD, BCOP, manager of clinical pharmacy services at the Allegheny Health Network Cancer Institute in Pittsburgh,...

Episode 426: Tools to Support Patients and Nurses Through Medical Trauma in Oncology

The ONS Podcast

“When people with PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] get quite avoidant—and that can be expressed in so many different ways—the implications can be really profound. I think an important invitation to oncologists and oncology nurses and primary care providers who care for people battling cancer is let’s explore what's underneath these avoidant behaviors. Is it a very practical thing? Or is it that underneath this avoidant behavior is really profound fear?” James C. Jackson, PsyD, research professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN, told Lenise Taylor, MN,...

Episode 425: How AI Can Help Healthcare Organizations Improve the Cancer Experience

The ONS Podcast

“In oncology specifically, where care is complex, artificial intelligence (AI) can really synthesize large volumes of clinical information, flag risks such as treatment complications, and support adherence to evidence-based pathways. For nurses specifically, this enables them more time for direct patient care, clinical judgment, and care coordination, and really practice to the top of their license while reducing repetitive time and administrative tasks,” Jenn Frith, DNP, RN, OCN®, NE-BC, associate vice president of clinical operations at Duke Cancer Institute in Durham, NC, told Jaime...

Episode 424: Radiation Site-Specific Side Effects: Cancers of the Pelvis

The ONS Podcast

“Think about what organs lie in the radiation field, and anything that lies in that radiation field is likely going to have some potential temporary—hopefully temporary—side effects. If you think about the pelvis, the things that live in there are the bladder, urethra, some bowel, rectum, reproductive organs, skin, some lymph nodes. And so, all of those things could potentially have associated side effects,” ONS member Kayla Kafka-Peterson, BSN, RN, ROCN™, nurse navigator and leader in the brachytherapy and peri-anesthesia programs at UCLA Health, in Los Angeles, CA, told Lenise...

Episode 423: Pharmacology 101: Interaction Pathways

The ONS Podcast

“When we think of drug interactions, specifically, the National Cancer Institute actually defines this as a change in the way a drug acts in the body when taken with certain other drugs, herbals, or foods or when taken with certain medical conditions. Drug interactions may cause the drug to either be more or less effective or cause effects on the body that are not expected,” Carissa Ganihong, PharmD, BCOP, oncology and bone marrow transplantation clinical pharmacist at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS, AOCNS®, manager of oncology...

Episode 422: An Overview of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia for Oncology Nurses

The ONS Podcast

“What I appreciate about our patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic leukemia is the consideration that they receive a cancer diagnosis, and the best thing for them to do is actually nothing. There is a large population of patients that we don’t recommend any type of treatment. We recommend that they establish care with an oncologist and that they have a relationship with those care teams,” ONS member Caitilin Murphy, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, AOCNP®, chief nurse practitioner at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA, told Lenise Taylor, MN, RN, AOCNS®,...

Episode 421: Medical Trauma in Oncology

The ONS Podcast

“There are a huge array of medical dynamics that people endure, and when they leave a lasting impact, a word that we don’t use widely enough is the word ‘trauma.’ There’s an entire category of phenomena in the medical arena that are, in fact, traumatic. One way we know that these experiences are traumatic is that we know that huge portions of people who experience things like cancer do indeed develop problems like [post-traumatic stress disorder],” James C. Jackson, PsyD, research professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN,...

Episode 420: Long-Term Myelodysplastic Syndrome Considerations for Oncology Nurses

The ONS Podcast

“We typically think of the disease progressing for our higher-risk patients because many of them already start with increased blasts or a lot of dysplasia. And they have these chromosomal variants that make them prone to evolving into acute myeloid leukemia (AML). With them, we can anticipate that they are going to progress to AML. And that’s what we’re trying to prevent. It’s kind of like a biologic evolution and not a switch,” ONS member Sara Tinsley-Vance, PhD, APRN, AOCN®, nurse practitioner and quality-of-life researcher at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, FL, told Lenise...

Episode 419: Pharmacology 101: Immunomodulators

The ONS Podcast

“Until immunomodulators, patients [with myeloma] did not have a great overall survival rate. But when we introduced lenalidomide, we started seeing our patients have life expectancies between five and seven years—which was unheard of prior to these immunomodulators going forward. I think it’s promising and allows patients to have quality of life versus therapy of life,” ONS member Daniel Verina, DNP, RN, ACNP-BC, nurse practitioner for the multiple myeloma program at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, NY, told Lenise Taylor, MN, RN, AOCNS®, TCTCN™, oncology clinical specialist...

More Episodes

“Skin reactions, such as redness, dryness, and just irritation of the skin, can occur. Since we’re irradiating the lung, we can also cause a cough, and that’s due to the inflammation from the radiation. Patients can also get esophagitis if the tumor that we’re treating is close to the midline of the chest near the esophagus. And probably the most common side effect that we see is fatigue,” ONS member Amy MacRostie, RN, OCN^®, radiation oncology nurse at St. Charles Cancer Center in Bend, OR, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS, AOCNS^®, manager of oncology nursing practice at ONS, during a conversation about radiation side effects in lung cancer.

Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod

Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0

Earn 0.25 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at courses.ons.org by May 8, 2027. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

Learning outcome: Learners will report an increase in knowledge related to the side effects of radiation to treat lung cancer.

Episode Notes

To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities.

To find resources for creating an ONS Podcast club in your chapter or nursing community, visit the ONS Podcast Library.

To provide feedback or otherwise reach ONS about the podcast, email pubONSVoice@ons.org.

Highlights From This Episode

“The types of radiation that can be used are external beam radiation and stereotactic body radiation treatment, or SBRT. External beam radiation is often used in combination with other treatment modalities, like chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and targeted therapy, to treat these cancers. And SBRT is usually done solo, and it’s a highly precise treatment for inoperable or early-stage lung cancers.” TS 1:52

“[Physicians and] providers can also help prevent side effects by reducing the dose to the heart and reducing the dose to the good lung tissue, if you will, as much as they possibly can. And this is done using intensity-modulated techniques, or IMRT. And that’s where the linear accelerator sculpts the radiation beams conforming to the shape of the tumor itself.” TS 6:37

“I think overall cancer treatment can lead to decreased libido and decreased sexual interest. Depression and fear can definitely play a role in this. And with lung radiation, specifically, fatigue and possibly shortness of breath with the exertion may decrease sexual interest. Nurses and providers should support the patient in their desire or lack thereof in sexual activities. We should have open discussions … and these can take place with patients about intimacy and how that can be approached in a different way that can accommodate for the side effects that the patients might be experiencing.” TS 8:57

“Post-radiation scans will be abnormal. Post-radiation imaging can be misread as a progression of disease or residual disease. And I tell patients, ‘Don’t panic. Talk to your radiation oncologist so they can read the imaging themselves and interpret the results.’ Oftentimes what’s read as progression is radiation treatment sequela of scarring or fibrosis.” TS 11:25

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