MPN Programs Archive

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Monitoring MPNs: When is it Time to Switch Therapies?

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Monitoring MPNs: When is it Time to Switch Therapies? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo. 

MPN expert, Dr. Srdan Verstovsek reviews factors that may indicate a treatment change for patients with essential thrombocythemia (ET), polycythemia vera (PV) and myelofibrosis (MF).

Dr. Srdan Verstovsek is Chief of the Section for Myeloproliferative Neoplasms in the Department of Leukemia at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Learn more about Dr. Verstovsek, here.

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Transcript:

Dr. Srdan Verstovsek

The real definitions of a failure of a given therapy, it’s not easy to come by. Experts in the field, doctors that see a lot of myeloproliferative neoplasm patients, occasionally get together and try to put in place some guidelines. What would be a failure to a therapy mean for patients with ET or PV?

Would that be, for example, polycythemia vera patients too many phlebotomies when you are on hydroxyurea.

Hydroxyurea is a chemotherapy by mouth, should be eliminating need for phlebotomy, should decrease the white cells and platelets, and the spleen enlarged, and improve the quality of life.

If that’s not possible, and you have to define what that means, then you would say, you should change. So, guidelines do exist, which are always used in clinical studies to define the failure and justify a change. But they should also be applied in clinical practice to apply possible.

If you are on hydroxyurea for ET and PV, and you are not controlling blood cell count very well, you can’t take more because there are side effects from hydroxyurea, you should change. Right?

If you see a progression of the spleen, or worsening of quality of life despite the control of the blood cell count, something is wrong, maybe you should change.

In myelofibrosis is similar situation. You may be experiencing a good therapy on JAK inhibitor or anemia medication, but then after a while, spleen starts to grow, quality of worsens, or anemia develops, then you should change.

It’s not as easy to see exactly to define, but you get the point I’m sure because people are different, the benefit extent or benefit is different, pattern of a failure is different, and we have a lot of difficulties in really objectifying what this means to fail.

My approach is when I see a failure developing – nothing happens overnight. You try to modify what you do by adding another medication, adding medications for whatever is causing that failure, or modifying what you’re doing by changing the schedule or the dose. So, not to give up and say, “Oh, it’s not working,” but trying to work with the patient, and with the medications that you have in different way, for benefit to last the longest possible. 

Which MPN Treatment is Right for You? Factors to Consider

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Which MPN Treatment is Right for You? Factors to Consider from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Dr. Srdan Verstovsek, discusses how multiple factors, including diagnosis and symptom burden, determine which MPN treatment path may help improve a patient’s outcome.

Dr. Srdan Verstovsek is Chief of the Section for Myeloproliferative Neoplasms in the Department of Leukemia at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Learn more about Dr. Verstovsek, here.

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An Expert Shares Key Steps to Take Following an MPN Diagnosis

Transcript:

Dr. Srdan Verstovsek

So, we talk about diagnosis, and then prognosis, and then go over [stem cell] transplant. Now, the transplant is done in only less than 10 percent of the patients because most of the patients are elderly. That’s why you have the disease.

They might not have a donor. They may be sick. There are multiple reasons, so transplant happens in less than 10 percent of the patients. Once we are over that, you say, “What’s wrong with the patient?” Not wrong in terms of dying, but do you have a significant anemia? Do you have an enlarged spleen? Do you have a bad quality of life when we talk about myelofibrosis? All of this that I have talked so far, applies to myelofibrosis. These are the three main reasons for initiating of therapy, usually. Significant anemia, significant bad quality of life, and significant symptom related to the big spleen. You would then introduce therapies.

For the splenic symptoms, we usually prescribe JAK inhibitors. That would be standard practice. For anemia, we have medications from injections under the skin, to some pills. No real approved therapy for anemia, but whatever we can do help patients counteract those problems because slowly over time they’ll get worse and worse, and people die with myelofibrosis between five and seven years.

So, we wanna combine medications. We’re gonna introduce medications as soon as something wrong with the patients to improve whatever is wrong so that the quality of life can continue at a decent level.

Let me go back a little bit to essential thrombocythemia and polycythemia vera, ET and PV. These two conditions are considered rather benign. They should not much effect the longevity, perhaps PV can. And if they do, the main reason for dying from ET and PV is the blood clot or thrombotic event.

This is what we say, usually. A blood clot or some bleeding usually clots in the heart, or the brain, or the lungs, can kill the person. So, we don’t usually talk about the life expectancy in terms of genetic mutations, or abnormalities in chromosomes, or something that will kill the patient outside of the blood clotting risk.

So, what we are talking about then, is after diagnosis, we are talking about the prognosis, when we talk about ET and PV, prognosis is related to what’s your thrombotic risk? So, we talk to patients with ET and PV about thrombotic risk assessment.

And typically, age over 60, or having a history of blood clot, we’ll say yes that patient is a high risk patient with ET, or high risk patient with PV, for the blood clot. And we will be treating patients for that risk in different ways.

So, it’s a little bit different angle here on what we try to achieve in ET and PV patients. More benign, more chronic, assessment of the risk of clotting and control the blood count, and occasionally when we need, control the spleen symptoms. But different ballgame and ballpark then the myelofibrosis part.  

There are, obviously, standard practice protocols in terms of what do you do? Right? So, if we are talking about ET and PV, you would say, if you are – as your remember now, we divide patients in those with the low risk of blood clot, and high risk for blood clot. For low risk, we just give people baby aspirin, and if they have PV, we phlebotomize the patients, blood-letting.

So, not much experimentation there. But there are studies that one can join if there are too many phlebotomies, for example, too many blood-letting episodes. And there are studies with medications that would be decreasing that need completely.

There are also studies in patients that are high risk for blood clotting, which typically would be treated with hydroxyurea, chemotherapy by mouth.

There are new versions of the interferons, biological agents given under the skin every two weeks, that would perhaps be taken instead of a standard practice hydroxyurea.

Not too many studies in ET and PV, really. Some. But in myelofibrosis, there are many because with ruxolitinib, for example, which has been around for about nine years, it’s a JAK inhibitor, you get in many patients good control of the splenic symptoms, but it does not last forever, and in some patients, it may benefit to some degree, but not completely.

So, there are many studies where you can add another medication to ruxolitnib a JAK inhibitor, to boost what it does more of the splenic symptoms controlled, or to add another benefit. The JAK inhibitors do not, by and large, improve the anemia, so how about adding anemia drug to ruxolitnib.

So, combination studies are many underway, so you can actually enroll – even with the newly diagnosed myelofibrosis patients, in the need of therapy, in a clinical study. Not to say, after JAK inhibitors in a second line. That’s what we call it. After JAK inhibitors you need to do something else, that second line, there are many studies because there is no other approved therapy. So, for myelofibrosis, no question in my mind, there are so many studies underway, you can be participant in study to get your result boosted by whatever else is added to what you’re doing, and discover for the large population of patients, novel therapies. 

MPN Treatment: Why Testing for Mutations Matters

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MPN Treatment: Why Testing for Mutations Matters from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Testing for mutations can influence treatment options available to patients with MPNs and provide a more in-depth understanding into their essential thrombocythemia (ET), polycythemia vera (PV) or myelofibrosis (MF) diagnosis. MPN specialist, Dr. Srdan Verstovsek reviews three key mutations that may impact treatment timing and approaches.

Dr. Srdan Verstovsek is Chief of the Section for Myeloproliferative Neoplasms in the Department of Leukemia at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Learn more about Dr. Verstovsek, here.

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Transcript:

Dr. Srdan Verstovsek:

So, what we know is that ET, PV, and MF, these are these three, and we will use the abbreviations for simplicity, are so-called classic myeloproliferative neoplasms. Myeloproliferative means that it is disease of the bone marrow where cells grow without control.

Now, with ET we have high platelets, but ET is the disease of all the cells. In PV you have high red blood cells, and in many patients you have high white cells and platelets. In myelofibrosis, it’s paradoxically many patients present with too few cells because of reactive bone marrow fibers or fibrosis that limits the growth of the cells.

So, these are the three diseases that have underlying problem, same problem in these three conditions, which is high activity of proteins inside the bone marrow cells, proteins inside the bone marrow cells.

A cascade of protein that makes cells grow without control. We call this a JAK-STAT pathway. I had patients; they say JAK-STAT highway. It’s active all the time. This is a protein JAK too, and then the JAK2, and then other, so we call it JAK-STAT pathway.

It’s super active. Active in normal person when we need to make blood, but in the diseased person, active because of acquired mutations that affect that highway, JAK-STAT pathway or highway.

It makes it work all the time, that’s why we have so many cells. And there are three mutations, which are part of diagnostic process. You test for these. You can test in the blood or in the bone marrow sample, and these are JAK2 mutation, calreticulin mutation, and the MPL mutation.

They are almost always exclusive of each other, and about 90 – 95 percent of patients will have one or the other. They are still very few patients that have none of these three, which is interesting. And we are, in others, looking for other reasons in these few patients.

 But one of the three is present, and it’s part of the diagnostic process as well. I didn’t emphasize this before, but it is present as a part of the bone marrow evaluation. That’s where it goes. And it is therefore, helpful to test for it. But one can test for other mutations. Many patients have many other mutations that have nothing to do with the JAK-STAT pathway, and that in large part is responsible why people have different disease ET, PV, or myelofibrosis. We explain this that way because of other genetic abnormalities, other abnormalities that we cannot really describe yet.

Genetic is not the whole picture. There are other parts, I’m sure, in bone marrow environment, in other factors they control the genetic expression, and so on, that contribute why a patient with JAK-STAT hyperactivity has ET, and why another has myelofibrosis.

We don’t really fully understand that. And of course, there is a plethora of patients in between that are not all the same. So, genetics do carry a lot of weight in what happens with the patients, and we do test for that, in addition to testing for JAK2, calreticulin MPL. We test for multiple others. That’s routinely done in academic center. It’s very valuable, and it should be standard practice.

The main utility of widespread testing for additional mutations is to assess the prognosis of the patients. If we are looking at the bone marrow blood chemistry and physical exam, a splenomegaly, and presence of this driver mutation, the JAK, calreticulin or MPL.

We call them driver mutations. They drive that highway. If that is the complexity of the diagnosis, then the next step is, as you remember, the patient will say, “How long I’m gonna live?” Well, obviously, that information comes from the historical experience, and I always emphasize that. But there is valuable information from historical perspective to some intelligence to tell the patients what to expect in general terms.  Since the introduction of the genetic testing in academic centers, we have enhanced our ability to prognosticate. Initially, ten or more years ago, we would be looking at the age of the patients, how the patient fares, the symptoms, the anemia, or white blood cell count, or blasts.

These would be kind of common prognostic factors for assessment of the outcome of the patients. But now, we add information on the presence of one or the other of the driver mutations, and the presence of the number and types of these other additional, which call them somatic mutations that have nothing to do with JAK-STAT pathway.

And you can see now how the prognostication also has the flavor of complexity, and it is really not that easy, and we keep moving forward. That prognostication effort is keep moving to assess the outcome of the patients better and better for one particular reason.

If we have we a sense that a patient, based on this prognostic scoring systems, have a poor outcome, which we define as the life expectancy less than five years, then that patient should be referred to the [stem cell] transplant.

And transplant should be done because the benefit of a cure, and the risk of dying through transplant procedure – unfortunately, that’s the reality, is just justifiable if the prognostic scoring system tells you that the life expectancy is less than five years.

That’s the main role for the genetic complexity testing. Looking also at the chromosomes that might be broken. That’s done on a bone marrow sample. And dividing patients in prognosis scoring groups to guide the decision making on the transplant.  

Should MPN Patients be Retested for Genetic Mutations Over Time?

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Should MPN Patients be Retested for Genetic Mutations Over Time? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

MPN expert, Dr. Srdan Verstovsek provides insight into what factors determine whether MPN patients should undergo additional bone marrow biopsies and genetic testing over time.

Dr. Srdan Verstovsek is Chief of the Section for Myeloproliferative Neoplasms in the Department of Leukemia at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Learn more about Dr. Verstovsek, here.

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Transcript:

Dr. Srdan Verstovsek:

We already know, everybody knows, I would think, that the living tissue does change over time. And when a patients have doubt, I tell them, “Look, my hair has not been grey all my life.” Everybody laughs. That happens with the bone marrow biopsy results, right? They change over time because the bone marrow does change over time. It’s not the same, and if you have the disease, disease cells, let’s call them malignant cells, they may acquire new mutations as they divide. If they already have some mutations that they’re present at the time of diagnosis, they are actually more prone to get more of those mutations over time.

And so, it may then be wise, and that’s what your question is about, to occasionally test patients and see whether there’s any change. Not perhaps in the number of fibers, or number of different cells, but genetically are there any new mutations which would make that disease perhaps more aggressive.

Unfortunately, the situation with repeated testing is complicated by price of the test. The testing can be done on blood, but it’s very expensive. We’re talking about thousands of dollars, and it’s not justifiable at the moment to do that every six months, or once a year for example, to see about any change because, it may not change what we do. It requires a clinical change, not just a genetic change for one to do something different, and something different would be referral to a bone marrow transplant, sooner rather than later.

So, first of all, repetitive testing would be useful in patients that are borderline for the decision of the transplant, not in everybody, because that’s the only intervention that would be affected by that testing. And then, even in these situations, you would need to have a clinically relevant abnormalities beyond just a new mutations.

That means a bigger spleen, or losing weight, or having profound anemia now. So, what basically this comes down to is, we follow the patients closely, and when there is a clinically relevant change, that would ask for a bone marrow biopsy and genetic testing, then we can justify that, and then we change what we do. So, it is cumbersome to sit tight and wait for a change, I understand that, but that’s the reality at the moment.

Which Tests Are Necessary Following an MPN Diagnosis?

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Which Tests Are Necessary Following an MPN Diagnosis? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

MPN expert, Dr. Srdan Verstovsek, explains why a bone marrow biopsy is essential following a myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) diagnosis and its role in confirming whether a patient has essential thrombocythemia (ET), polycythemia vera (PV) or myelofibrosis (MF).

Dr. Srdan Verstovsek is Chief of the Section for Myeloproliferative Neoplasms in the Department of Leukemia at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Learn more about Dr. Verstovsek, here.

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Transcript:

Dr. Srdan Verstovsek:

By and large, we would like people to have a bone marrow biopsy done. In fact, I would say that myelofibrosis cannot be diagnosed without a bone marrow biopsy. Polycythemia vera, in occasional cases, can be diagnosed without the bone marrow biopsy, even by the national guidelines. And essential thrombocythemia, I would say, that should have, although that is not norm in clinical setting, a bone marrow biopsy as a part of the disease diagnostic process.

This is to say that the diagnosis of any of these three conditions, ET, PV, or myelofibrosis, does not depend solely on the bone marrow biopsy.

I’ll give you an example of the myelofibrosis. You have to have a biopsy that shows abnormalities in different cells in the bone marrow. Megakaryocytes are the key. So, cells are different in number, size,shape, and colors, and you have fibers. Sometimes you don’t even have a fibers. But then, you have to combine this.

Maybe, abnormalities in blood cell count. In the blood chemistry there is an LDH, lactate dehydrogenase chemistry test that usually is tested for. And then, you have a physical exam, enlargement of the spleen. And the type of the white cells in the blood. So, you have a combination of the bone marrow, blood chemistry test, and the physical exam that all have to come together for diagnosis to be made for myelofibrosis.

I always ask my fellow, and doctors in training, who actually makes the diagnosis? It’s the clinician. If you just look at the bone marrow, you may say there is myeloproliferative neoplasm and there are some fibers, but you have to have these other factors to make a diagnosis of myelofibrosis. And fibers, for example, do not really say that the patient has myelofibrosis. Fibers can be present in PV, polycythemia vera, in 20 percent of the patient at the time of diagnosis of PV.

So, fibers on its own doesn’t mean myelofibrosis. Of course, there are other diseases that can cause fibers, other bone marrow diseases that have nothing to do with myelofibrosis or polycythemia vera.

So, it is rather complex problem, and it is not easy to make a diagnosis. We actually looked at that, and 15 percent of the patients that come through the door here at MD Anderson, have a change in diagnosis after our own assessment. So, some experience does count, I would say does counts a lot, because of complexity.

MPNs and Coronavirus: What Patients Should Know

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MPNs and Coronavirus: What Patients Should Know from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Dr. Srdan Verstovsek provides guidance for patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) related to coronavirus (COVID-19), stressing the necessity of continued communication with their healthcare team.

Dr. Srdan Verstovsek is Chief of the Section for Myeloproliferative Neoplasms in the Department of Leukemia at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Learn more about Dr. Verstovsek, here.

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Transcript:

Dr. Srdan Verstovsek:

When we come to the COVID pandemic here, and the effect on our patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms, of course, that is something that is very serious. Our patients, particularly those with advanced myelofibrosis, are at a high risk of having complications from infection if they get infection. Perhaps less so for patients with ET and PV, which are more healthier, if you like, although they have myeloproliferative neoplasms.

So, our focus here is, first of all, like it is for anybody else, including myself, on prevention.

Obviously, that would be common sense and logical to try to prevent getting infected. And then, also to try to be in best possible health. Taking medications as prescribed. Being in touch with your doctor. If you cannot come to a physical exam, which is understandable because of possible increased risk through the transportation perhaps, then being in touch through telemedicine. We call, and we see our patients online. That is fine. We can do the bloodwork from the distance.

So, taking medications, being fit, and being as healthy as you can with the disease. But taking medications and controlling your risks, not allowing disease to take ahold of you, and then you get infection and you’re gonna be in trouble.

So, really communications with the doctors, taking medications, and I would say, occasional, with all precautions, visits.

Because, for example, with myelofibrosis patients, I really need to feel that spleen and the liver and see how is the patient’s weight, and not only ask over the telephone, what’s your symptoms are, or what your blood count is. I can see this on the computer. We really need, occasionally, myelofibrosis patients to come over to our clinic to be examined.

And here, in the clinic, we have extraordinary precautions. No visitors. No people to accompany patients in. So, to minimize any interactions with anybody who possible can bring any undesirable infections through the door, not just COVID, but any other. And the staff is prepared to provide excellent care with protection that is in place.

So, I think that will be my message: Prevention; staying on top of your disease; being in best possible shape with the disease; staying in touch with your doctor; and, occasionally, still visit the doctor if at all possible, particularly for myelofibrosis patients.

An Expert Shares Key Steps to Take Following an MPN Diagnosis

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An Expert Shares Key Steps to Take Following an MPN Diagnosis from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

MPN expert, Dr. Srdan Verstovsek, provides essential advice for patients that are newly diagnosed with essential thrombocythemia (ET), polycythemia vera (PV) and myelofibrosis (MF).

Dr. Srdan Verstovsek is Chief of the Section for Myeloproliferative Neoplasms in the Department of Leukemia at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. 

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Transcript:

Dr. Srdan Verstovsek:

Obviously, it’s very stressful for any patient to be told that there was something wrong with their bone marrow. You’re talking about myeloproliferative neoplasms; these are neoplasms of the bone marrow. And one would like to first make sure that the diagnosis is correct. So, if there is any doubt, second opinion is always very good to do.

And I tell my patients come to me as a first doctor, if they have concerns, ask me questions. If they wanna go for a second opinion, please go.

The second is understand what this diagnosis means. For prognosis, for the lifestyle, educate yourself. Be educated about what this means because it’s lifelong disease. We hardly ever cure anybody. It is possible in some cases with a bone marrow transplant, but in general, this is life-long condition, any of this Myeloproliferative Neoplasms.

And then, number three, involve your family or friends. Family in particular, because caregivers needs to be informed what this means for you if there is any effect on your quality of life or on longevity. So, don’t leave the disease alone. So, these would be my three points to make people aware of what this all means when you have MPN.

Verify, educate, and share that knowledge and experience.  

An MPN Care Partner Shares Why He’s Optimistic About the Future

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An MPN Care Partner Shares Why He’s Optimistic About the Future from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Care partner Jeff Bushnell, husband of myelofibrosis (MF) patient advocate Summer Golden, explains why he’s hopeful about their future together. Jeff shares key resources that have helped him stay educated and maintain optimism.

Summer Golden and Jeff Bushnell have been married for over 20 years. When Summer was diagnosed with myelofibrosis (MF), Jeff took on the role of care partner and advocate. Summer uses her years of theatre training and comedy to cope with her condition and help others, while maintaining positivity about the future.

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Transcript:

Jeff:

It’s important to educate yourself because the more you know the less fear can overcome you. And this particular disease – the research is happening so fast, and things are changing. In my estimation, they’ll find – right now, the only cure is a stem cell transplant. It’s normally not done for older people. That in itself is innately risky. I’m convinced, probably within the next five to seven years, there will be a cure for this disease that’s not a stem cell transplant.

The research is moving that quickly on it. And if you don’t follow the disease and the people that are working on it, the specialists, you’re gonna have a much greater chance of feeling powerless and getting overwhelmed by it. As Summer believes, attitude can have a huge, huge impact on how the course of your disease runs. And a doctor would tell you the same thing.

For me, it started with Patient Power. Patientpower.info, I believe is, what it is. They have a whole section for myeloproliferative neoplasms and myelofibrosis, and they’re short videos. And you get a chance to listen to the best doctors that are the head people in this, Dr. Mesa, Dr. V [Verstovsek], and Dr. Jamieson – all the people that are really the movers and shakers. They speak. And you also get a chance to hear other patient’s stories and how they’re dealing with it. And that will give you a much better idea of what you’re facing. And you can really understand things from there. And you can get your knowledge.

Fear comes from lack of knowledge. In my job as a pilot, I flew for 50 years. I very, very rarely was afraid because my knowledge was so great and was reinforced every year by continual training that I felt prepared to handle anything that might come across to me. Knowledge is really important. It will allay your fears dramatically.

When I started online and heard about people that had been journeying with this for 10 or 15 years, initially, I had thought – well, this is a year or two, and it’ll be the end. And then I realized, plenty of people have lived with this for a long, long time. And they had a journey, and they’re doing it successfully. And that gave me confidence.

The more people you can talk to about it, the more you can put your journey in perspective. And it’s really hard to put in perspective for this particular disease because it affects everybody vastly differently. Some cancers – the progression is very, very linear. Everybody kind of goes through the same thing. This one – it depends on the mutations you have in your blood and all kinds of things like that, and some people get really bad symptoms quickly.

Others, they don’t. But the more you know about how those things affect you, the more you know and can understand about what to expect. And the more people you talk to who have it, you can find out about their journeys. It helps put yours in perspective.

I’m optimistic because I really keep up to date on what’s going on. And I see the doctors that are in the forefront of this and the research that they’re putting in and the care they have for working on this disease and the knowledge they have, and I just am quite optimistic. And as I say, I’m following the medical developments extremely closely.

I went to the ASH Conference last year. And I’ve gone to another conference that our doctor spoke at. And I’m just kinda blown away by – I’m fascinated by the science.

My advice would be find out as much as you can about it and support each other in a way that works in your own marriage.

Summer and I approach life a little bit differently. And yet, one of the reasons we do so well together is we kinda have both ends of the spectrum covered. And I sensed that when I met her 20 years ago. And we brought something to the table that each of us needed. And if you can find that in your relationship with your significant other that has the disease, what you can bring to it, what they can bring to it, you can be a tremendous support for each other.

A Care Partner’s Journey: How Life Goes on After an MPN Diagnosis

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A Care Partner’s Journey: How Life Goes on After an MPN Diagnosis from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Care partner Jeff Bushnell shares how he and his wife, patient advocate Summer Golden, have dealt with her myelofibrosis (MF) diagnosis. Jeff explains how online support and finding an MPN specialist were essential steps in helping them continue to live life to the fullest.

Summer Golden and Jeff Bushnell have been married for over 20 years. When Summer was diagnosed with myelofibrosis (MF), Jeff took on the role of care partner and advocate. Summer uses her years of theatre training and comedy to cope with her condition and help others, while maintaining positivity about the future.

 

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Transcript:

Jeff:

The worst part was initially. We didn’t get a myelofibrosis diagnosis.

It took about a month because in order to definitively diagnose it they have to take a bone marrow sample and send it to a pathologist and so on and so forth. So, all that time, I’m worrying about the possibilities. It could be leukemia or this, that, or the other thing. My way of handling and dealing with scariness – I’m a retired pilot – is to find out things, knowledge.

I spent a huge amount of time on the internet. The LLS Society has papers about it, and I read those.

And the more I got into it – once we found out it was myelofibrosis, I’ve read almost all of the papers that the doctors write for each other to find about this. That doesn’t interest Summer in the slightest. It interests me greatly. So, when we have an appointment with the doctor – when I’m talking to the doctor, it’s like two doctors talking to each other.

When Summer’s talking to her, they talk on a different plane. It’s much more about mental approach to things and that kind of thing.

And for me, when I think back to the beginning of when we had this and where we are now two years later, we’re living the life that we lived before she was diagnosed to be real honest with you.

We do everything that we did before she was diagnosed the same way we did it before, and it was a trip that probably everybody who gets diagnosed or deals with a person that has the disease takes. When it first happened, it hit us like bricks coming out of the sky hitting us on the face. Literally, when we first went to the hospital and she got the word that there was a problem – as I say, we lived in two separate houses – I literally was afraid to call her phone figuring she might be not there. I was that scared. And then, after we met our doctor, which was extremely fortuitous – when we went to the emergency room, the person that was there, she said these look like leukemia things.

So, she called the oncologist. The oncologist on call is our current doctor, Dr. Tiffany Tanaka, and she’s a specialist in this disease. It was like it was meant to be. And Dr. Tanaka asked the guy to do some other tests and then said, “Send her home, but tell her I need to see her this week.” So, we’re thinking all these horrible things. And its New Year’s weekend, so the clinic is closed for about five days, you know? We’re worrying and worrying and worrying.

We finally saw Dr. Tanaka, and it was like a breath of fresh air. This wonderful doctor has the ability to just communicate with the patients. I’m interested in the disease, so she communicated on my level. Summer is not interested in all the medical jargon, so she was able to explain to Summer what was going on and just very, very reassuring, very reassuring.

And then, I went and started getting information. That’s my way of coping with things. The first place I went was – I went to Patient Power and found a lot of information there.

And then I found the online myelofibrosis support group at Facebook. And that was very, very useful. When I started reading about the fact that some people had this for many, many years – then I said this is not – nothing’s gonna happen in the next year or two. We can go back to living. And once we learned more about it and spent more time with our doctor and Summer was able to live her life once she got taking the medicine – she takes Jakafi.

That controlled the basic symptoms, and we haven’t looked back. We just started living our life the way we had been living it before.

Is Laughter Really the Best Medicine? One Woman’s Mission to Help Others with MPNs

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Is Laughter Really the Best Medicine? One Woman’s Mission to Help Others with MPNs from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Could laugher really be the best medicine? Patient advocate Summer Golden explains how she uses comedy to cope with her myelofibrosis (MF) diagnosis and shares her mission to inspire others.

Summer Golden and Jeff Bushnell have been married for over 20 years. When Summer was diagnosed with myelofibrosis (MF), Jeff took on the role of care partner and advocate. Summer uses her years of theatre training and comedy to cope with her condition and help others, while maintaining positivity about the future.

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Transcript:

Summer:

When I was initially diagnosed after some other false starts with an MPN, I was kind of shocked because I’ve never really been sick, and I don’t take medications, but I didn’t think about it – that sounds crazy; I can’t explain it. I just figured I’d be okay, and the main thing – I didn’t wanna give up this theater.

You know how when you’re my age, people talk about nothing but their illness sometimes? I just never been into that, so it wasn’t part of my personality.

I started doing comedy two years ago because a friend of mine was taking a comedy class, and I went to her showcase, and I thought, “I should try that, even though I’ll never be funny, I have no jokes, and I don’t know what I would say.” But, I went, and I did comedy in clubs for a while, and then I didn’t – I don’t really like drinking and dirty jokes, so I kind of got away from it off and on, and then, when I got into doing it about my myelofibrosis, then I saw a purpose in it, so I went back to it.

I was thinking about whether my life was gonna be changed, how this was gonna change me, so I emailed my comedy teacher in the middle of the night, and I said, “Do comedians ever talk about cancer, having it?” And, he said, “Only if they have it.” So, I emailed him back and I said, “I’m coming back to your class,” so I did. He assigned everyone to be in a showcase. I was gonna do mine about cancer. It was six weeks, so I had to find humor. I don’t know how I find it. I just kind of see things.

I was shocked because I thought people were gonna hate it, and I was gonna quit, and then I’d invited my doctor and two friends, so I thought I’d better not just not show up. But, people came up and said they were inspired. I was just amazed because I mainly –I don’t go out of my way to think of – I do think of things that are funny, but it’s just – it’s a real thing. I try to keep my comedy real.

It’s helped me by being in control. I don’t pay much attention to the symptoms because I’m kind of over them.

Just helped me feel like I’m doing what I can do, and so far, it seems to be working, as long as I get enough sleep.

How do I think comedy could help other people who have health problems? I can tell you one way I thought to help somebody. I wanna start a class for people, but so far, there hasn’t been a lot of interest, but I think I could really help people doing that because I know how to write comedy.

If they really wanna do that, they would be a type of person that has humor, and they could do it, but you’ve gotta realize sometimes, people get a lot out of being sick. There are a lot of rewards, and so, they might prefer to have those rewards. For my way of thinking, if they wanna do humor, it’ll make a big difference, and if somebody wants to do it, they could call me, and I’ll help them.

Could an MPN Clinical Trial Be Right for You?

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Could an MPN Clinical Trial Be Right for You? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Is a clinical trial your best MPN treatment option? Dr. Ruben Mesa explains the clinical trial process and how patients may benefit from participating.

Dr. Ruben Mesa is an international expert in the research and care of patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs). He serves as director of UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center in San Antonio, Texas. More about this expert here.

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Transcript:

Dr. Ruben Mesa:

There is much exciting research in myeloproliferative neoplasms. First, research trying to understand, why do people develop MPNs, and why do they progress. This is crucial research, and that this basic research to better understand the diseases will help us asses whether our treatments are having an impact slowing down the progression of the disease, and help us better design therapies that, hopefully, can cure these diseases.

Be reassured  that our goal as a scientific community is to cure the MPNs. Now, until we’re able to do that, we want to be able to best control them as best we can. So, the next level of research is really in new therapies; primarily drug-based therapies, but future therapies using the immune system; potentially using vaccine therapy to try to better control the disease to make the disease as neutral in your life as possible.

Our goal, short of curing the disease is to make the disease as invisible in your life as possible. Hopefully, minimal side effects, minimal symptoms, protected against risk of blood clots or bleeding, ideally, decreasing the risk of progression, and hopefully without any significant side effects from the medication your receiving.

So, that really is our goal.

 Clinical trials are a crucial way for us to improve the treatments that we have for any diseases. And in particular, in areas like myeloproliferative neoplasms where we have therapies, but we don’t have cures, clinical trials are crucial. Clinical trials are a structured way for you to be able to receive a new treatment. That treatment is closely monitored, and starts with a strong belief that that treatment is going to be beneficial for you.

Being on a clinical trial has many steps, but you are in the driver seat in each of them. So, you’re able to enroll in a study, and you’re able to decide at any point whether or not you’d like to continue on in that study. You are made clearly aware of what you’re receiving; what dose; what to expect at each and every step of that therapy.

It’s a treatment just like any other, but we use them because we are hoping that it will be better than the treatments that we have, and we do it on a clinical trial so that we can learn from that experience. If that drug is better, then we should probably expand its use and give it to other people, and have it be approved and used around the world. Or for whatever reason that therapy is not as helpful as we would like, then we learn from that, as well.

Why was it not helpful? Was it the wrong therapy? Was it targeting the wrong aspect of the disease? Were there side effects that made the therapy not beneficial? So, we learn a lot about it in either direction. Hopefully, individuals who participate in clinical trials will have a direct benefit themselves by being able to experience a new therapy that is, hopefully, better. But also, they do have the ability to help other patients now and in the future that will be facing the same disease they have.

How Does Genetic Testing Impact Your MPN Treatment Options?

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How Does Genetic Testing Impact Your MPN Treatment Options? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

How can genetic testing results impact your treatment and treatment response? Dr. Ruben Mesa provides an overview of common mutations associated with essential thrombocythemia (ET), polycythemia vera (PV) or myelofibrosis (MF) and how identification of these mutations are moving research forward.

Dr. Ruben Mesa is an international expert in the research and care of patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs). He serves as director of UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center in San Antonio, Texas. More about this expert here.

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Transcript:

Dr. Ruben Mesa:

We are learning much more about the genetics of Myeloproliferative Neoplasm, as we truly are about the genetics of many diseases. First, when I speak of genetics, these are not the genes we think of of inherited genes that are passed from mother and father, to son or daughter. These are the genes in ourselves that potentially can change over the course of our lives, and those changes or mutations can be associated with diseases.

So, what we have learned is that the genetic changes that are associated with myeloproliferative neoplasms are important, both in terms of predicting how the diseases might behave, and also, potentially in terms of therapies. The genetic changes fall into two different groups.

There’s a first group of the most common mutations that we think are important in driving the disease. The most common is the mutation in a protein called JAK2. That’s a mutation in about half of the patients with ET, half with PV – or half with myelofibrosis, and the majority with polycythemia vera. There is mutations in calreticulin. That’s about in a third of patients with ET, and a third with MF. And then, there’s mutations in MPL, which are present in a handful of patients with ET and with MF.

But in addition to those three mutations that tend to be mutually exclusive; patients tend to only have one of those, and there’s a small group of patients that do not have any of those three. But there’s another group of mutations that we have learned about.

That we are able to obtain on panels of sometimes anywhere from 40 to 100 genes that may or may not be changed or mutated in diseases like MPNs and the implications of what those pattern of changes in those mutations have for those patients. 

MPN Treatment Decisions: Which Path is Best for You?

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MPN Treatment Decisions: Which Path is Best for You? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Dr. Ruben Mesa provides an overview of available treatments and reviews important factors to consider when choosing a therapy for essential thrombocythemia (ET), polycythemia vera (PV) or myelofibrosis (MF).

Dr. Ruben Mesa is an international expert in the research and care of patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs). He serves as director of UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center in San Antonio, Texas. More about this expert here.

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Transcript:

Dr. Ruben Mesa:

The treatment landscape for myeloproliferative neoplasms is changing very rapidly. And in a good way, it’s increasingly having many more options for patients with Myeloproliferative Neoplasms. But I would separate it, really, into two groups. First, there are those individuals with essential thrombocythemia and polycythemia vera.

These individuals, we have newer therapies, such as interferons, we have, potentially, use of JAK inhibitors, we have some experimental therapies, as well as prior therapies we’ve used and become accustomed to, including hydroxyurea, phlebotomy, and aspirin.

But we’re learning much more about how to use these therapies; how to combine them; what constitutes success with these therapies; what should constitute a change in terms of therapy.

And there are new therapies being developed in the future that will impact this group of individuals with earlier MPNs: ET and PV.

For patients with myelofibrosis, the treatment is evolving. Patients with Myelofibrosis are affected in different ways. It is, in some ways, a more problematic disease.

There is evolution of our most impactful therapy, of stem cell transplantation. We have a better sense of in which patients we should consider that treatment, and how that can be applied in the safest way. We also have more medical treatments. We just saw in 2019 the approval of Fedratinib as the second specific JAK inhibitor approved for patients with myelofibrosis.

We, additionally, now have, truly dozens of clinical trials of new therapies in development that are in clinical trials right now that might be helpful for patients with myelofibrosis who have either had Ruxolitinib, or have a suboptimal response to Ruxolitinib, or sometimes even newly diagnosed patients. But I would say the future is very bright.

So, it is key with a treatment to first understand what is the treatment, what is the dose, and what is the goal? Each of the treatments have different goals. Some of the goals are to decrease the likelihood of blood clots or bleeding.

And frequently, we assess whether we’re protecting against the blood clots or bleeding by bringing down elevated counts. Is the plate account high, and we’re trying to bring it into the normal range? Is the hematocrit high, and we’re trying to bring that to under 45%? Is the white blood cell count high? Have we lowered each of those? First, it’s around controlling blood counts if that is the goal, as well as trying to decrease at risk of blood clots or bleeding.

 Second, if patients have symptoms associated with their MPN, sometimes itching, sometimes symptoms associated with high courts, sometimes enlargement of the spleen, or symptoms associated with the spleen, have we reduced or nullified those symptoms? Have we shrunk the spleen if the spleen was enlarged?

And then, finally, we assess our goal by trying to be sure that patients are not progressing or getting worse on the disease. So, depending upon the treatment, we first asses what is our goal? Is it to improve counts? Is it to improve symptoms? Is it to shrink the spleen? And have we accomplished one, two, or all three of those goals? Or was only one those our goals to begin with? 

Newly Diagnosed With an MPN? Start Here.

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Newly Diagnosed with an MPN? Start Here. from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

If you’ve been diagnosed with an MPN, such as essential thrombocythemia (ET), polycythemia vera (PV) or myelofibrosis (MF), Dr. Ruben Mesa outlines key steps you should take, including a visit with an MPN specialist.

Dr. Ruben Mesa is an international expert in the research and care of patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs). He serves as director of UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center in San Antonio, Texas. More about this expert here.

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Transcript:

Dr. Ruben Mesa:

Patients who have a Myeloproliferative Neoplasm should consider seeing an MPN specialist at least at some frequency. The myeloproliferative neoplasms are not common illnesses. They’re not exceedingly rare, but they’re not common. And there is many nuances in terms of how we best diagnose the disease; the discussion we have with you regarding what are the treatment plans and goals, and then putting that plan into effect.

So, frequently, there’s a value in seeing someone who focuses on MPNs to help to establish that plan, and then frequently, there is a home physician, hematologist, or medical oncologist that works together along with the specialist in terms of managing the patient.

When patients first come for their visits related to an MPN, they have many questions. You know, they’re not common diseases, and people typically don’t have much experience with them. They’ve not had a family member that’s afflicted or someone at work. So, frequently, it comes on out of the blue. People will frequently, sometimes, go online and get a lot of information, but sometimes too much information; information that may or many not be appropriate for them.

So, there are many questions that are valuable, and I always advise patients to write down their questions ahead of time because sometimes in the heat of the moment, having a conversation, particularly with a new physician or provider, those questions may not, necessarily, be top of mind for them. So, we can go through those questions clearly.

I think key questions, I wouldn’t limit it to one key question, but I’d say I would put them in categories. 1.) Truly understanding the diagnosis; what’s the actual diagnosis that that patient has. 2.) What does the physician think are the risks that patient has? With each of the diseases, there are different risk classifications, and that will also help to give patients a frame of reference if they read other information about their disease online from highly reputable sources, or other educational sort of materials.

To understand, what is the recommended treatment plan. The plan may or may not included medications and understand what those medications are intended to do, and what their side effects may be, or what to anticipate.

It may or may not include aspirin, it may or may not include phlebotomy, or it may or may not include other therapies. So, understanding that diagnosis, understanding the risk, and understanding, what is the recommendation in terms of treatment.

MPN Terms Defined: What is Leukocytosis? What is Anemia?

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MPN Terms Defined: What is Leukocytosis? What is Anemia? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Physician assistant, Lindsey Lyle, provides definitions for leukocytosis and MPN-related anemia, both commonly used terms when discussing myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs).

Lindsey Lyle is a physician assistant at the University of Colorado Cancer Center, specializing in hematological malignancies with a subspecialty in myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs). More about this expert here.

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Transcript:

Lindsey:

There are a few terms that often come up. No. 1 is “leukocytosis.” This often is a term that’s thrown around, especially in relation to myelofibrosis and also polycythemia vera, and this term means an elevated white blood cell count. That is a common thing that, as medical providers, we may just throw around in the room and not necessarily think about the fact that we should explain that a little bit better.

Additionally, “anemia” is a term very often used when talking about myelofibrosis, and that just means a decrease in red blood cells.

Often, people associate anemia with iron deficiency because this is probably the most common form of anemia, but as it relates to MPNs – and specifically, myelofibrosis – it is generally a problem with production that does not have anything to do with iron, but is actually more so just related to the disease and how the red blood cells are impaired because of the fibrosis of the bone marrow.