Summary: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a blood cancer that has been historically challenging to treat. It often requires a bone marrow or stem cell transplant that can be curative but brings significant risks and side effects. However, new drugs and clinical trials have expanded treatment options and moderated side effects for many patients.
Presenter: Presenter: Mark Litzow MD, Professor of Medicine, Mayo Clinic
To read the transcript, got to: www.bmtinfonet.org/video/acut...
Highlights:
AML has two phases of treatment: induction to achieve remission and consolidation to maintain it.
Different subtypes of AML have different prognoses which can be favorable, intermediate, or adverse. Favorable risk patients may only require induction and consolidation chemotherapy. Intermediate or adverse risk patients usually need a transplant following induction chemotherapy.
Several donor types are available to provide bone marrow or stem cells for transplant. The closer the match of donor to recipient, the less chance of graft-vs.-host-disease (GVHD) where donor cells attack the recipient’s body.
This is a recording of the Oct. 14th webinar, Acute Myeloid Leukemia: Increasing Complexity and Increasing Treatment Opportunities
Key Points:
(00:02:54) Leukemia arises from a small number of malignant blood cells that grow uncontrollably. It can be acute or chronic and involve either myeloid or lymphoid cells.
(00:04:48) Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the dominant acute leukemia and mainly affects older people.
(00:05:56) AML can present with several symptoms, including a “blast crisis” of too many malignant white blood cells
(00:11:24) AML may also involve abnormal chromosomes or karyotype and multiple genetic abnormalities.
(00:13:20) Many mutations and abnormalities are being studied and some have targeted medications to control them. These mutations create many different subtypes of AML.
(00:22:16) New treatments for some genetic abnormalities have recently been approved.
(00:25:22) FLT3 is a common mutation for which there are now several targeted treatments.
(00:30:20) Some newer drugs are especially appropriate for older or less fit patients.
(00:36:33) Traditional transplants used chemotherapy and radiation to wipe out diseased bone marrow. These are called myeloablative transplants.
(00:38:47) Reduced intensity transplants are now more common for older adults and are more easily tolerated by older patients.
Meet the speaker: Dr. Mark Litzow
www.mayoclinic.org/biographie...
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