Latest Conference Articles

The FDA was busy in 2017, with a number of notable approvals, including the first chimeric antigen receptor T-cell treatment. In a session at the 59th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia, employees from the FDA presented data on 5 new drug approvals in leukemia and lymphoma in 2017.

Opioids are commonly precribed for the treatment of both acute and chronic pain.

A new pathway uses a multidisciplinary team to help reduce 30-day heart failure readmissions, explained Amar Bhakta, MD, of Rush University Medical Center.

In a session at the 59th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia, Brian Curtis, PhD, of the BloodCenter of Wisconsin Blood Research Institute, highlighted drugs other than chemotherapy that may cause neutropenia in patients.

As the healthcare system moves more towards a value-based system, practices are running into challenges with the operational complexities of new payment models. Brenton Fargnoli, MD, medical director of value-based care and director of product marketing and strategy at Flatiron Health, outlined a few ways practices can ensure they’re ready to take on downside risk.

There is some controversy in healthcare about whether or not healthcare performance measures should be adjusted for social risk factors, and Shantanu Agrawal, MD, MPhil, CEO and president of (NQF), outlined both sides of the debate.

Stephen Schuster, MD, of the Perelman School of Medicine, provides a summary of results seen with CAR T treatments in leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma.

Including the modified brentuximab antibody in the treatment regimen improved modified progression-free survival by 5%, although the rates of neutropenia and infections were higher in patients administered the brentuximab-containing regimen.

Adolescents and young adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) tend to have worse outcomes than children with ALL, and new research published at the 59th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting delved into the reasons why, explained Julie A. Wolfson, MD, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine.

Right now is a critical time for the healthcare industry to evaluate how patients are financially burdened by novel treatments that can provide tremendous outcomes, said Joshua R. Richter, MD, of the John Theurer Cancer Center.

A much-anticipated session on the second day of the 59th Annual Meeting and Exposition of the American Society of Hematology provided long-term updates on trials evaluating 2 chimeric antigen receptor-T (CAR T) treatments: tisagenlecleucel or CTL019 (Kymriah) for the treatment of adult relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and axicabtagene ciloleucel (Yescarta) evaluated in patients with refractory aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Patients with blood cancers tend to use hospice care services less frequently overall than patients with solid tumors. While there has been an increase in hospice care use in patients with blood cancers, there has been a failure to increase hospice use meaningfully, according to Thomas LeBlanc, MD, of the Duke Cancer Institute.

Providing outpatient hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) when patients are eligible is a good way to reduce costs, without impacting outcomes, explained Nina Shah, MD, associate professor, University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine.

Clonal hematopoiesis and selection pressures associated with aging can together lead to the development of neoplasms. Two hematologists presented US and European updates on the potential to develop a predictive model, and an appropriate intervention, in these individuals.

Two abstracts at the 59th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology in Atlanta, Georgia found that CTL019 shows promising potential in providing significant benefit and cost effectiveness for pediatric and young adult patients with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia in both the United States and the United Kingdom.

Is transfusion dependence a barrier to hospice utilization among older patients with leukemia who are enrolled in Medicare?

Physician belief in the art of medicine is running up against the challenge of costs being shifted to patients and health systems and the desire of payers to have less variation in care, said Derek Raghavan, MD, PhD, FACP, FRACP, president, Carolinas HealthCare System's Levine Cancer Institute.

Ibrutinib has the potential to improve vaccine response for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and an ongoing trial will help provide a better understanding, explained Kerry Rogers, MD, assistant professor, internal medicine, Division of Hematology, The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Three studies presented at the ongoing 59th Annual Meeting and Exposition of the American Society of Hematology in Atlanta, Georgia, shared progress on the oral Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor, ibrutinib, in the treatment of relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) and as a single agent in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

During a session on the first day of the 59th Annual Meeting and Exposition of the American Society of Hematology in Atlanta, Georgia, physicians shared current knowledge on cardiovascular toxicities of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) as well as the potential for treatment-free remission with these agents.

In a large population of patients who died from hematologic malignancies, the majority spent over 120 days at home in the last 6 months of life. Certain demographic features, such as age and gender, indicate which patients are more likely to die at home and suggest an important role for access to caregiver support, according to an abstract presented at the 59th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology in Atlanta, Georgia.

A secondary analysis presented at the 59th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology found that all individual symptoms of myeloproliferative neoplasms correlate with quality of life (QoL), and having either 1 severe symptom or having multiple symptoms of moderate intensity was meaningfully correlated with QoL reduction.

As people get more empowered and more informed with data, such as their own electronic medical records, they will utilize the information to do better for themselves and improve their health, said Lucio Gordan, MD, of Florida Cancer Specialists.

Acute myeloid leukemia treatment episodes such as high-intensity chemotherapy, low-intensity chemotherapy, hematopoietic stem cell transplant, and relapsed-refractory patient episodes pose a significant substantial burden, according to an analysis presented at the 59th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology in Atlanta, Georgia.

Patients with AL amyloidosis from lower socioeconomic status groups, defined in terms of education or employment, conveyed lower health-related quality of life compared to patients with more years of education and/or professional/managerial positions, according to an abstract presented at the 59th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology.

Pharmaceutical companies would like to see value-based contracts that are multi-year and over large populations, said Ira Klein, MD, MBA, FACP, senior director of healthcare quality strategy for the Strategic Customer Group at Janssen Pharmaceuticals.

An analysis presented at the 59th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology showed that against a 3-year horizon, ibrutinib succeeds in overall survival (OS) and progression free suvrvival (PFS) over hematopoetic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) in the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia with 17p deletion. Against a lifetime horizon, ibrutinib still proved to be superior in OS and PFS over HSCT, but is no longer cost saving as treatment costs continue.

A demonstration of federally qualified health centers across the country found a decline in multiple measures of professional satisfaction, workplace environment, and workplace culture, said Dr Mark Friedberg, MD, MPP, Senior Natural Scientist, Director, Boston Office, RAND Corporation

A panel on the importance of clinical and non-clinical stakeholders in a patient’s care trajectory brought together a diverse group of stakeholders at The American Journal of Managed Care®’s Patient-Centered Oncology Care® meeting.

Barbara Balik, EdD, MS, RN, co-founder, Aefina Partners; senior faculty, Institute of Healthcare Improvement, explains the importance of addressing clinician burnout and the effects its if isn't addressed.