Exploring Hydration as a Protective Tool in Cancer Care: A Medical Student’s Research Journey

For many medical students, research begins with curiosity. For others, it begins with mentorship. For Emily Casteen, it was both.

A medical student was introduced to an important question by Dr. Pokhrel (PGY-3) and Dr. Neupane: Could giving head and neck cancer patients extra hydration help protect their kidneys during cisplatin treatment?

A Look Into the Project:

Cisplatin is a common drug used to treat these cancers, but it can be tough on the kidneys. Doctors already give patients fluids to help, but no one knew if adding more hydration would make a difference.

To explore this, Emliy and her team reviewed old patient charts. They compared two groups:

Patients who received standard hydration v.s Patients who received extra hydration a few days before cisplatin

By tracking creatinine levels over time (a key marker of kidney function), they wanted to see whether the extra fluids helped reduce kidney stress.

Challenges Behind the Scenes:

Like much of clinical research, the biggest challenge wasn’t analyzing the data, it was gathering enough of it. Because changes in creatinine levels were subtle, the team needed a larger sample size than they initially expected. Sorting through so many records took patience and persistence.

What the Research Revealed:

The results were surprising, and very specific.

Extra hydration helped only two groups:

• Patients who did not drink alcohol

• Patients who did not drink alcohol and did not smoke

Even in those groups, the benefit was temporary and was only seen at the six-week mark. After that, the creatinine levels were similar to everyone else’s.

There were no long-term benefits, but the short-term protective effect is still interesting and worth studying further.

This raises compelling questions about lifestyle factors, hydration response, and kidney vulnerability—questions that, as Emily emphasized, warrant further research, particularly beyond the 12-month mark. Moments like these, where data defies expectations, are often the ones that push research forward.

The Importance of Community in Research:

When asked what kept them motivated during the more difficult stretches of the project, Emily didn’t pause: Her mentors.

Support from Dr. Pokhrel, Dr. Wesson (PGY-2), and Dr. Neupane played a pivotal role, from choosing variables, to analyzing data, to interpreting what it all meant. Research, as the student put it, "should not be a solitary activity." Collaboration was the backbone of the project’s success.

Impact and Looking Ahead

While the findings highlight a modest and short-term protective effect of additional hydration for specific patient groups, they also open the door to future studies on tailored hydration protocols. Even incremental insights like these contribute to improving patient safety and refining supportive care in oncology.

Advice for Aspiring Student Researchers

The student’s guidance for future researchers is simple but profound: Don’t do it alone.

Recruit a peer, seek residents, fellows, and attendings who can share their experience. Learn from people who’ve walked the path before you. Research is at its best when it’s collaborative, an ongoing conversation, not a solo pursuit.