AML Archives - Page 3 of 14

How Can Bone Marrow Biopsies Be Used in AML Care?

Related Resources:

Black and Latinx AML Patients | The Impact of Cultural Beliefs

How Do AML Patients and Outcomes Differ by Population Groups?

Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

Dr. Taveras, are there differences in the stage of AML at diagnosis between underrepresented compared to other racial and ethnic groups, and if so, what factors contribute to these disparities?

Dr. Sara Taveras Alam:

So when we think of cancer stages, we usually refer to stage I through stage IV. Stage I being the cancer is localized to where it started, for example, breast, lung cancer, just in that breast, just in that lung, small and as things spread farther and farther from where they started, then you have stage II, stage III, stage IV, so for AML, it is a blood cancer, so technically, it’s all through our body, since our blood goes through the body.

There may be patients that present with no complications from their AML, and we’re assuming that they present it properly from when their diagnosis, from when their disease started. And other patients that may present with some complications from their acute myeloid leukemia already, so there the assumption is that acute myeloid leukemia has been ongoing for some time, but it is really hard to really determine when the acute myeloid leukemia started unless the patient had been undergoing very frequent blood work previously.

We do know that patients who are Black tend to present with AML at a younger age, and we’re not sure what factors contribute to that. We also know that they may be at higher risk of complications during treatment as our Hispanic patients.

We also know that their diseases may be more resistant to treatment and associated to mutations that are more aggressive. So those are the factors that contribute.

A lot goes into the treatment responses for our patients, and we want to achieve a remission and maintain a remission, and these patients require frequent healthcare visits and they may have barriers to that, depending on their work, childcare, transportation, there may be many barriers for these underrepresented patients that they themselves don’t feel as though the healthcare team needs to know about, but it is very important for us to know about these barriers so that we can do our best to address them and the patient can receive the care that will ultimately give them the best chances of survival and response to treatment.

Lisa Hatfield:

Dr. Taveras, do you have any general tips for patients who receive a diagnosis of AML?

Dr. Sara Taveras Alam:

Yeah, so for any patient with a new diagnosis of cancer and especially acute myeloid leukemia, I would recommend that they take notes of their conversations with their providers, that they include through their caregivers, family members, and conversations about the care, bring them to visits. There is a lot to learn in the process of an AML patient.

And it is all right to ask questions again and again. It is encouraged to ask questions until their understanding of what is going on and what the plan is. Patients really are their best advocates or should be their best advocate and should never assume. They should ask when they don’t know what the plan is or when they want to make sure that things are going in the right track.

Download Resource Guide | Descargar guía de recursos

How Do AML Patients and Outcomes Differ by Population Groups?

March 25, 2024/in Acute Myeloid Leukemia, AML Activated, AML Activated Experts, AML Newly Diagnosed, AML Programs, AML Treatments and Clinical Trials, AML Video ND, AML Video TC /by Kara Rayburn

How Do AML Patients and Outcomes Differ by Population Groups? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

How do AML genetic and molecular subtypes vary by population groups, and what are the impacts? Expert Dr. Sara Taveras Alam from UTHealth Houston discusses AML characteristics that impact some population groups and patient advice for overcoming barriers to AML care.

[ACT]IVATION Tip

“…communicate with your providers if you have any barriers to care, things like transportation, things like cost of medication may not seem to a patient as though they are important to bring up to the provider, but it is really important to bring up these barriers, as there’s things that may be done from the perspective of the hospital, perhaps they can connect you with financial assistance programs that may help with transportation, there’s different societies that can help with that, some of the pharmaceutical companies can help with that too…”

How Can Bone Marrow Biopsies Be Used in AML Care?

Related Resources:

Black and Latinx AML Patients | The Impact of Cultural Beliefs

AML Diagnosis Disparities | Factors Impacting Underrepresented Racial and Ethnic Groups

Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

Dr. Taveras, are there differences in the genetic and molecular subtypes of AML among different population groups, and how do these differences influence disease progression, response to treatment, and survival outcomes?

Dr. Sara Taveras Alam:

That is a great question. We know that in acute myeloid leukemia in general, the molecular characteristics and genetic characteristics are of prognostic and therapeutic value. We do know that Black patients have a higher risk of poor risk cytogenetics and a higher risk of not responding to treatment as well as a higher risk of complications from treatment. Some of my work actually also evaluated that Hispanic patients with comorbidities fared much worse than other populations with comorbidities.

So we always have to think about the patient as a whole and provide care that target the leukemia, but also take into consideration all of the characteristics of our patients that we’re serving. Some of our patients may have a higher difficulty accessing care or continuing care, obtaining their medication, and that too may impact their treatment outcomes.

My activation tip for this question would be to communicate with your providers if you have any barriers to care, things like transportation, things like cost of medication may not seem to a patient as though they are important to bring up to the provider, but it is really important to bring up these barriers, as there’s things that may be done from the perspective of the hospital, perhaps they can connect you with financial assistance programs that may help with transportation, there’s different societies that can help with that, some of the pharmaceutical companies can help with that too, so there are a lot of barriers to care that come from the patient socioeconomic circumstances, which is not necessarily specific to race or ethnicity, but may be associated since we know that some of our minorities will live in places where they’re below the poverty index, and if we don’t help them with these things, they might not have the best outcome.

Lisa Hatfield:

If you have a patient who does have some kind of barrier to access, whether it’s to their medications or to getting to treatment transportation, can they talk with you or the nurse, or is there a social worker at most facilities? Who would they mention that too, if they had an issue with access?

Dr. Sara Taveras Alam:

I think that the best thing is to mention it to everyone that you encounter in the healthcare system, definitely in terms the sense the social worker may take charge, connecting the patient with resources that are available. In my institution, we have a navigator that also helps connect patients to resources, but also as a provider, I’ve been in the position of sharing names and contacts of certain institutions that may be able to help the patient, I’m not sure if it’s appropriate to tell the name here, but there definitely may be things available for the patient that different members of the team may be knowledgeable about, so my recommendation would be to mention whatever barrier you have to each person that is connecting with you from your healthcare team, social worker, medical assistant, nurse, doctor. The more people you mention it to, the higher the likelihood, that it will be taken care of.

Download Resource Guide | Descargar guía de recursos

Black and Latinx AML Patients | The Impact of Cultural Beliefs

March 25, 2024/in Acute Myeloid Leukemia, AML Activated, AML Activated Experts, AML Newly Diagnosed, AML Programs, AML Treatments and Clinical Trials, AML Video ND, AML Video TC /by Kara Rayburn

Black and Latinx AML Patients | The Impact of Cultural Beliefs from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What impact can cultural beliefs have for Black, Latinx, and other AML patients? Expert Dr. Sara Taveras Alam from UTHealth Houston explains how experiences, cultural beliefs, and religious beliefs can impact AML care and patient advice to help inform your care provider about your viewpoint.

[ACT]IVATION Tip

“…voice your beliefs, so that your providers are aware of your goals and the barriers to care possibly and inform you better on how we can accommodate for your beliefs and improve upon the expectation that you may have from the healthcare system from previous experiences.”

How Can Bone Marrow Biopsies Be Used in AML Care?

Related Resources:

How Do AML Patients and Outcomes Differ by Population Groups?

AML Diagnosis Disparities | Factors Impacting Underrepresented Racial and Ethnic Groups

Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

Dr. Taveras, what impact do cultural beliefs and practices surrounding illness and treatment-seeking behaviors have on delays in AML diagnosis and disparities and treatment adherence within the Black and Latinx communities?

Dr. Sara Taveras Alam:

Thanks for this question. The experience that the patients may have had previously with the medical system, or that their family members or friends may have had previously with the medical system may impact their initial care. It may be initially that patients, of course, don’t know that this is what’s going on, and they think that they have some flu or viral infection, or does not know the severity of the situation, and especially if the personal or family experience with health care has not been positive, this may cause delays in presenting to tuition and obtaining a diagnosis. Unfortunately, we know that Black patients tend to be diagnosed with AML at an earlier age, and we know that they might not respond to treatment as well as their non-Hispanic white counterparts.

So it’s important to know this because young patients may not really foresee that they may be ill in this way and not seek care promptly. So with AML, the time to care is not necessarily going to cost progression of disease, but the patient may have complications from their disease by the time that we make the diagnosis and that can make things a little bit more challenging. Unfortunately also, Black and Latin communities can face higher complication rates from treatment, and that is something that we have seen in several clinical trials.

In the specific situation of Latin communities and well not only Latin communities, but other patients with strong religious beliefs and for Jehovah’s Witnesses specifically, this is a very challenging disease because patients who are Jehovah’s Witnesses do not accept transfusions and unfortunately we know that if the patients with acute myeloid leukemia are unable to be treated appropriately without transfusion. They may need transfusions because of their illness, and we know that with chemotherapy, unfortunately, the hemoglobin could get worse before they get better.

So it’s almost a guarantee that even if a patient with AML does not need a diagnosis, does not need a transfusion at presentation, it’s almost guaranteed that they will need a transfusion at some point during the course of their treatment. So this makes it very challenging for patients who have that religious belief and may require involving their religious leader and can cause a lot of conflict within their family members, unfortunately.

My activation tip for this question is to voice your beliefs, so that your providers are aware of your goals and the barriers to care possibly and inform you better on how we can accommodate for your beliefs and improve upon the expectation that you may have from the healthcare system from previous experiences.

Download Resource Guide | Descargar guía de recursos

How Can Bone Marrow Biopsies Be Used in AML Care?

March 25, 2024/in Acute Myeloid Leukemia, AML Activated, AML Activated Experts, AML Newly Diagnosed, AML Programs, AML Treatments and Clinical Trials, AML Video ND, AML Video TC /by Kara Rayburn

How Can Bone Marrow Biopsies Be Used in AML Care? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

How do AML care providers use bone marrow biopsies in patient care? Expert Dr. Sara Taveras Alam from UTHealth Houston explains how the tests are used and shares patient advice for lifestyle and dietary precautions against infections.

[ACT]IVATION Tip

“…in terms of going out in the world, I would avoid for our AML patients to be in crowded spaces, and if they are going to be in crowded spaces to use a mask so that they’re protected from respiratory infection.”

Related Resources:

Black and Latinx AML Patients | The Impact of Cultural Beliefs

How Do AML Patients and Outcomes Differ by Population Groups?

AML Diagnosis Disparities | Factors Impacting Underrepresented Racial and Ethnic Groups

Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

Dr. Taveras, can a bone marrow biopsy be used to monitor response to treatment in AML, and are there other tests to help monitor treatment and kind of a unique question, are there any specific dietary or lifestyle recommendations for patients undergoing a bone marrow biopsy or diagnosed with AML?

Dr. Sara Taveras Alam:

Well, the response to treatment in AML is measured with a bone marrow biopsy as the best test to assess response; however, we can have a clue into the response based on the blood test for the patient, so typically patients with acute myeloid leukemia will have anemia and thrombocytopenia, so low hemoglobin, low platelets and will likely be needing transfusions for this.

Sometimes patients with acute myeloid leukemia will have an elevated white blood cell count or low white blood cell count. Ideally, if a patient has responded to treatment, we would see the hemoglobin and platelets improving and less transfusion requirements. They might not normalize that, they would usually improve if there is response to treatment, and similarly, when it comes to the white blood cells, if the patient has responded to treatment, ideally the white blood cell count should normalize and you should not be seeing any abnormal immature blood cells in the blood work, so we should not be seeing any blasts and ideally we would be having…I’m sorry, a good number of healthy white blood cells.

So that is a surrogate marker for the bone marrow biopsy to assess response, how is the patient doing? What symptoms are they having? What is their CBC or blood count looking like? Ultimately, the bone marrow biopsy is the best test, because then we look at the place where the blood cells are being born and confirm that the blast count has been eradicated, that we see no blasts or at least less than 5 percent, which would be what we call a morphologic remission, then we do deeper assessments by sending the tests about the karyotype or chromosomes that are driving the disease and the mutations that could be driving the disease.

Ideally, if the patient has a very good response, all of those should be gone, sometimes the mutations are still there, but we’re not seeing the deceased being active, and really the bone marrow biopsy will guide the treatment to see if we’re in the right trajectory, if we can continue whatever treatment the patient is on or if we need to switch gears and treat with a different regimen to get the disease back in control.

As it relates to specific dietary or lifestyle recommendations for patients undergoing bone marrow biopsies, I wouldn’t say that there are any specific recommendations for that. On occasion, if a patient is on a blood thinner, they may be asked to stop the blood thinner for the bone marrow biopsy. Of course, that depends on what the indication for the blood thinner is. But in terms of dietary lifestyle changes, I don’t think that any change is necessary.

In terms of patients overall going through acute myeloid leukemia in terms of lifestyle recommendations, it is recommended that the patient be extra careful with infections because they are at higher risk for infection and this may mean different things at different stages of treatment and may be guided by what blood counts are looking like, specifically the neutrophils, which are the healthy white blood cells that help protect us from infections.

So patients that are neutropenic, meaning have low neutrophil count are at really high risk of infections, and we recommend for them to avoid undercooked meat or raw seafood, for example, ceviche or sushi. Any meat should be well cooked and any vegetables have to be very clean, very washed, so that we eliminate the risk of infection.

Oftentimes, I tell my patients to stick to cooked vegetables rather than raw because, unfortunately, if there is some bacteria, then the risk for our patients is much higher than the general population. Additionally, in terms of going out in the world, I would avoid for our AML patients to be in crowded spaces, and if they are going to be in crowded spaces to use a mask so that they’re protected from respiratory infection.

AML Clinical Trial Participation Disparities | Impact on Access, Outcomes, and Inclusion Strategies from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

AML Clinical Trial Participation Disparities | Impact on Access, Outcomes, and Inclusion Strategies

March 24, 2024/in Acute Myeloid Leukemia, AML Activated, AML Activated Experts, AML Newly Diagnosed, AML Programs, AML Treatments and Clinical Trials, AML Video ND, AML Video TC /by Kara Rayburn

What are AML clinical trial disparities, outcomes, and solutions for inclusion? Expert Dr. Sara Taveras Alam from UTHealth Houston discusses patient factors that impact access, underrepresented patient groups, and patient advice for improving clinical trial access.

[ACT]IVATION Tip

“…inquire if there are clinical trials available at the institution where you’re being cared for, not all institutions do have clinical trials available, and that is okay, but you should be informed and given the opportunity to look into other facilities if clinical trials are available and have the ability to do so.”

Download Resource Guide | Descargar guía de recursos

Advancements in AML Treatment | Tailoring Therapies to Individual Patients

Related Resources:

AML Diagnosis | Exploring Bone Marrow Biopsy and Alternatives

How Is AML Care Impacted by Bone Marrow Biopsy Results?

Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

Dr. Taveras, so this is kind of a three-part question regarding disparities in acute myeloid leukemia. So what are the disparities in clinical trial participation among AML patients, and how do these disparities affect access to innovative treatments and outcomes, and then kind of a third part to this question, how can efforts be made to increase diversity and inclusion and clinical trials for AML?

Dr. Sara Taveras Alam:

Thank you. This is a very important question. Unfortunately, disparities exist in the outcome of AML patients based on different factors, social-economic factors, racial factors, ethnicity, and unfortunately, it has been proven that in clinical trials, the non-Hispanic white population is the predominant population study, so unfortunately, our African Americans or Black patients and our Hispanic patients are underrepresented, and this may impact whether or not the treatments that are getting put, being studied and being utilized in AML patients are appropriate for these patients who were not included on the clinical trials.

I do see that there is an intentional effort to recruit patients from minority groups in institutions where trials are available; however, one caveat is that unfortunately, some of those underrepresented populations don’t necessarily have access to the institutions that are leading the clinical trials. I’m in Houston, and we actually have a county system here in Houston, where leukemia trials are available, and that is really a blessing, because it’s not something that is very common. So throughout my training, when I did go to a county hospital, I was able to see Hispanic patients and African American patients being given the opportunity to participate in clinical trials that may impact the long-term treatment of other patients and those treatments being studied in the population that was using them.

My activation tip for this question is to inquire if there are clinical trials available at the institution where you’re being cared for, not all institutions do have clinical trials available, and that is okay, but you should be informed and given the opportunity to look into other facilities if clinical trials are available and have the ability to do so.

Download Resource Guide | Descargar guía de recursos

How Is AML Care Impacted by Bone Marrow Biopsy Results?

March 24, 2024/in Acute Myeloid Leukemia, AML Activated, AML Activated Experts, AML Newly Diagnosed, AML Programs, AML Treatments and Clinical Trials, AML Video ND, AML Video TC /by Kara Rayburn

How Is AML Care Impacted by Bone Marrow Biopsy Results? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What is the impact of bone marrow biopsy results on AML care? Expert Dr. Sara Taveras Alam from UTHealth Houston shares how test results are weighed along with patient factors to set a treatment plan and discusses additional patient monitoring, relapse, and how treatment journeys may vary.

Advancements in AML Treatment | Tailoring Therapies to Individual Patients

Related Resources:

AML Diagnosis | Exploring Bone Marrow Biopsy and Alternatives

AML Clinical Trial Participation Disparities | Impact on Access, Outcomes, and Inclusion Strategies

Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

Dr. Taveras, how does the information gathered from a bone marrow biopsy influence treatment decisions for AML care?

Dr. Sara Taveras Alam:

The information gathered from bone marrow biopsies is crucial to decide on the optimal treatment for our patients. We do take into consideration patient factors such as age, comorbidities, and fitness to decide on the treatment that the patient benefits from; however, they are leukemia specific factors, mainly the driving forces behind that leukemia and mutations that may prompt us to use one treatment or another, so that initial diagnostic bone marrow biopsy is crucial to get the patient started on a treatment course, and then typically, three to four weeks after starting treatment, patients would require what is called a post-induction bone marrow biopsy, so that we can assess the response to treatment, so at that second biopsy, what we’re hoping to see is a patient in a remission, whereas the initial biopsy for an AML patient may have had more than 20 percent blasts or immature cancer cells of AML.

Our goal is that at this end of induction, three to four weeks after starting chemo, the bone marrow shows less than 5 percent blasts, and then we would call that a morphologic remission. In addition, we would be obtaining the chromosome analysis and mutation testing again on those marrows after treatment, because we would love to achieve the highest response possible where we not only eliminate the bad cells, but we are eliminating the driving forces of these bad cells.

So in an ideal situation where our induction treatment does lead into a remission, AML patients still need to undergo what we call consolidation chemotherapy to maintain a remission. Unfortunately, we know that if we stop treatment, our patients with AML will relapse, and the maintenance treatments depending on the regimen, we may have a stop day at four months or six months, depending on the regimen used, and at different time points during the treatment, a bone marrow biopsy may be repeated.

I think the most crucial time for bone marrow biopsies are at the diagnosis and after induction, if we have achieved our goal to achieve remission, then the bone marrow biopsy may be repeated monthly, depending on the institution that the patient is going to.

However, that part is negotiable depending on the patient’s goals and wishes. If the patient were planned for a stem cell transplant because of the characteristics of their leukemia…if it’s a more aggressive type of acute myeloid leukemia, what we call intermediate or poor risk acute myeloid leukemia, a stem cell transplant is recommended, and before proceeding with a stem cell transplant, we must confirm that the patient continues to be in a remission, so that’s another crucial time point to repeat the bone marrow biopsy in addition to the beginning of induction, so they’re getting a diagnosis and the end of that first induction treatment.

The time points between those two are kind of negotiable, especially in patients that have a lot of trouble with the biopsies, but may be very beneficial to confirm that we are keeping the patient into remission and carry the prognosis of the patient.

Of course, if there’s any concern that there’s a relapse, that would be another reason to repeat a bone marrow biopsy, and while confirmed that there has been a relapse and see what characteristics of the AML has changed, and what treatment would be appropriate at that time frame. Once a patient has been in remission, completed their maintenance treatment potentially received a stem cell transplant if it was appropriate for them, usually patients are surveillance clinic followed up, and a bone marrow biopsy is advisable for their first few years, about every three months to confirm that we’re maintaining a remission and that no further action is needed.

Download Resource Guide | Descargar guía de recursos

AML Diagnosis | Exploring Bone Marrow Biopsy and Alternatives

March 24, 2024/in Acute Myeloid Leukemia, AML Activated, AML Activated Experts, AML Newly Diagnosed, AML Programs, AML Treatments and Clinical Trials, AML Video ND, AML Video TC /by Kara Rayburn

AML Diagnosis | Exploring Bone Marrow Biopsy and Alternatives from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What are the purpose and alternatives to bone marrow biopsy? Expert Dr. Sara Taveras Alam from UTHealth Houston explains what’s involved in bone marrow biopsy, what is analyzed, patient advice for the procedure, and alternative testing methods.

[ACT]IVATION Tip

“…ask the providers what to expect from the bone marrow in the facility where you are in. Usually in all facilities, lidocaine, or local anesthesia is used, but if you foresee that in general, you are anxious about procedures or susceptible to pain, you are welcome to request for some medications for pain and anxiety to help you get through that procedure, and generally, once patients have undergone a first bone marrow biopsy, they know what to expect and what accommodations may be needed for them in subsequent bone marrow biopsies.”

Advancements in AML Treatment | Tailoring Therapies to Individual Patients

Related Resources:

How Is AML Care Impacted by Bone Marrow Biopsy Results?

AML Clinical Trial Participation Disparities | Impact on Access, Outcomes, and Inclusion Strategies

Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

Dr. Taveras, what specific features are pathologists looking for in the bone marrow sample when diagnosing AML, and are there any alternative diagnostic methods or tests available for AML besides a bone marrow biopsy?

Dr. Sara Taveras Alam:

And that is a great question. I think that many patients may be scared of what bone marrow biopsy entails. It is a procedure after all, and it can be painful. I do know that they’re able to get some details about the diagnosis from the peripheral blood just from blood tests alone; however, the best diagnosis is performed through the bone marrow biopsy, so it can provide more information about the email, than what we’re able to obtain from the blood, sometimes the blood count, the white blood cell counts are elevated in AML and that may make it easy to do some of our testing from the blood work, but in other patients, the white blood cells may be low at presentation and that can make it very difficult to obtain any meaningful diagnostic and prognostic information without a bone marrow biopsy.

The bone marrow biopsy would also allow to tell if the patient had a preceding blood disorder like a myeloid dysplasia and this may have treatment implications. This is not something that we would be able to tell from the blood alone unfortunately, so when our pathologists look at the bone marrow sample, they are looking at some of the blood that is obtained from that boom marrow space where the blood is produced, and a tiny piece of the bone from there as well, and they’re looking at the amount of cells, especially the normal red cells, the normal white blood cells, normal platelets, and specifically the abnormal white blood cells or blasts that are quantified in a percentage fashion to diagnose the AML.

There are also different types of blasts, so they may be able to sub-classify the AML from just looking at the morphology or how these cells look under the microscope. There are many ancillary tests that are performed on the sample as well to look into the genetics for the driving forces behind the acute myeloid leukemia.

We look at a chromosome analysis to see what the chromosomes are for the leukemia. We look at mutations during FISH testing, and we do molecular testing that are looking at specific point mutations that may be associated with AML and provide insight into the treatment options as well as the prognosis, the patient’s disease, and whether or not they may benefit from a stem cell transplant to increase the chances of maintaining a remission and obtaining a cure.

My advice for patients who may be anxious about the bone marrow biopsy would be to voice their concerns for their providers. I believe that different centers have different practices as it relates to pre-medication, so some places may provide anxiety medications and pain medications in advance of the procedure, but some other facilities may not. So my activation tip for this question is to ask the providers what to expect from the bone marrow in the facility where you are in.

Usually in all facilities, lidocaine, or local anesthesia is used, but if you foresee that in general, you are anxious about procedures or susceptible to pain, you are welcome to request for some medications for pain and anxiety to help you get through that procedure, and generally, once patients have undergone a first bone marrow biopsy, they know what to expect and what accommodations may be needed for them in subsequent bone marrow biopsies.

Advancements in AML Treatment | Tailoring Therapies to Individual Patients from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Advancements in AML Treatment | Tailoring Therapies to Individual Patients

March 24, 2024/in Acute Myeloid Leukemia, AML Activated, AML Activated Experts, AML Newly Diagnosed, AML Programs, AML Treatments and Clinical Trials, AML Video ND, AML Video TC /by Kara Rayburn

What are the latest AML treatment advancements? Expert Dr. Sara Taveras Alam from UTHealth Houston discusses how treatments have advanced over recent years with personalized therapies beyond a one-size-fits-all approach.

[ACT]IVATION Tip

“…patients to be really informed about all of the details of their AML and ask questions about the genetic drivers of their disease and whether or not there are medications that can target those drivers. Similarly, the decision to do a stem cell transplant or not will be driven by this, so it’s very important for the patient to be informed about all of the details of their AML, not just the fact that they have acute myeloid leukemia diagnosis.”

Download Resource Guide | Descargar guía de recursos

AML Diagnosis | Exploring Bone Marrow Biopsy and Alternatives

Related Resources:

How Is AML Care Impacted by Bone Marrow Biopsy Results?

AML Clinical Trial Participation Disparities | Impact on Access, Outcomes, and Inclusion Strategies

Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

Dr. Taveras, what are the latest advancements and treatment modalities for AML?

Dr. Sara Taveras Alam:

Well, over the last decade, there have been many new medications approved for the treatment of AML, and this has really allowed for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia to be individualized rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach, so typically for us to decide the treatment that best suits the patient, we take into consideration patient characteristics and into consideration, their age and their fitness level, other medical problems that they may have, and we also take into consideration characteristics of the leukemia itself, so not all acute myeloid leukemia are the same, and we try to get as much information as we can about what is driving the acute myeloid leukemia to see how we can best attack it.

One of the medication groups that we have available to us over the last decade are FLT3 inhibitors, and that is a class of medication that directly targets FLT3 mutations that may be present in patients with AML, and if the patient does have a FLT3 mutation and they’re able to be started on this class of medication, they do a lot better than they would have done, say, 20 years ago without those medications being available. Similarly, we have medications that target IDH mutations, IDH1 or 2 that are options for our patients. We have less intensive chemotherapy that is more appropriate for older patients with comorbidities, perhaps maybe more tolerable than the traditional IV intensive chemotherapy.

So my activation tip for this question is for patients to be really informed about all of the details of their AML and ask questions about the genetic drivers of their disease and whether or not there are medications that can target those drivers. Similarly, the decision to do a stem cell transplant or not will be driven by this, so it’s very important for the patient to be informed about all of the details of their AML, not just the fact that they have acute myeloid leukemia diagnosis.

Share Your Feedback About [ACT]IVATED AML

Dr. Sara Taveras Alam: Why Is It Important for You to Empower Patients?

March 19, 2024/in EPEP, EPEP Videos /by Kara Rayburn

Dr. Sara Taveras Alam: Why Is It Important for You to Empower Patients? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

How do care providers empower patients, and why is it important? Acute myeloid leukemia expert Dr. Sara Taveras Alam from UT Health Houston shares various methods she employs to empower patients in their care, cancer journeys, and ultimate decisions about the way they want to live with cancer.

Related Resources:

Dr. Emily Hinchcliff: Why Is It Important for You to Empower Patients?

Charise Gleason: Why Is It Important for You to Empower Patients?

Dr. Craig Cole: Why Is It Important for You to Empower Patients?

Transcript:

Dr. Sara Taveras Alam:

I empower my patients by explaining their disease at an elementary grade level, educating them on what to expect with treatments and keeping open lines of communication with them. I encourage my patients to share their journey with those who are close to them and to accept help. An extra set of ears may be helpful to recall conversations with physicians, and writing down questions in between visits can make sure that questions don’t go unanswered. I provide my patients with educational resources on their disease and do my best to explain the nuances of their treatment and what life with AML looks like.

I empower them to be their best advocate and ensure they know that they are the decision makers in this process, and we are here to guide and support them. Ultimately, it is their life, and they get to choose what is important to them. We should accommodate as best as we can. And sometimes that may be allowing them to postpone their next chemo cycle for a few days for a meaningful life event.

When things are rough, I empower patients by acknowledging their hardship and keeping alive the hope of cure unless that is no longer feasible. In the circumstances when controlling the disease is no longer feasible, I make every effort to accompany the patient in their concession of end of life care where there are no doubts about stones unturned, there is quality time with their loved ones, and there is peace of a life well-lived.

Combination AML Therapy for Newly Diagnosed Patients | What Are the Long-Term Effects?

November 30, 2023/in Acute Myeloid Leukemia, AML Newly Diagnosed, AML Programs, AML Thrive, AML Thrive Understanding, AML Treatments and Clinical Trials, AML Video ND, AML Video TC /by Kara Rayburn

Combination AML Therapy for Newly Diagnosed Patients | What Are the Long-Term Effects? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

A Patient Empowerment Network community member wants to know the length of time that patients can stay on the combined treatment of azacitidine (Vidaza) and venetoclax (Venclexta). AML specialist Dr. Jacqueline Garcia responds, sharing an update on the long-term follow-up data for this combination treatment.

Dr. Jacqueline Garcia is an oncologist and AML researcher at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Learn more about Dr. Garcia.

Acute Myeloid Leukemia Care | Who Are the Essential Team Members?

Related Resources:

Understanding AML Treatment Categories

New and Emerging AML Therapies Being Studied in Clinical Trials

Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

Jerry had this question. “How long can patients stay on azacitidine (Vidaza) and venetoclax (Venclexta) before relapse or toxicities force them to abandon treatment?”

Dr. Jacqueline Garcia:

So, this is a good question. I would say azacitidine and venetoclax just got FDA-approved just shy of five years now, and it’s totally changed our treatment paradigm in many great ways. It was initially approved for patients that could not get intensive chemotherapies or were above 75. We call these our older patients, our more vulnerable.

And we demonstrated and compared to azacitidine alone. It was given with placebo. We saw that the combination of azacitidine and venetoclax not only was safe, well-tolerated, it led to two-and-a-half times higher complete remission rates and impressively longer survival. That’s all we care about, patients are living longer. So, one of the things that we are appreciating in 2023 now, now that we have more patients on azacitidine and venetoclax, is that we have many patients that are long-term responders.

So, in the original clinical trial we’ve been reported – and we just submitted the update for the long-term follow-up that we presented at the American Society of Hematology meeting in 2022, in December.

We presented the long-term follow-up data that shows that responses can be durable and even as long as two years or three years in some patients. The average amount of time the patients are on therapy is somewhere between one-and-a-half to two years. But not every patient performs like an average patient.

We have some that respond for less time. We have some that respond for a longer time. So, I definitely have a few patients that have been on combination therapy, and we’ve gone to year three, then four, and two that got to year five. And that was using the original indication of older the 75, no intensive chemotherapy. Most of those patients in the original trial and led to the approval were not transplant candidates. But once those drugs got approved, more patients that were older started getting this therapy.

And so, the durability of this treatment might be longer for people that don’t have competing health problems and for specific mutation subtypes. There are a couple of mutation subtypes that include IDH2 and NPM1, where we’ve seen some extreme long-term responders.

And then, there are others that are much shorter. So, I would say it’s very individual. In terms of toxicities in general, the regimens very well-tolerated. And if it’s not, often it’s because there should be supportive care, prophylaxis, and adjustments to the dosing strategy, which has been well-published. Sometimes, if you have a treating oncologist that is less familiar, they won’t know the nuances of how to adjust the doses, so I would ask your local oncologist to reach out to anybody that was part of the original trials. Often, a lot of us are very responsive to helping out our colleagues to help patients to stay on treatment.

But at the end of the day, if a patient loses response or has a bad toxicity that makes it very difficult, we have to move on to another therapy.

Expert Perspective | Disease Modification in Polycythemia Vera

November 28, 2023/in MPN Newly Diagnosed, MPN Programs, MPN Treatments and Clinical Trials, MPN Videos ND, MPN Videos TC, Myeloproliferative Neoplasms, Thrive MPN, Thrive MPN Managing /by Kara Rayburn

Expert Perspective | Disease Modification in Polycythemia Vera from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Is it possible to change the course of disease in polycythemia vera patients? MPN specialist and researcher Dr. Lucia Masarova shares an overview of the research in disease modification, discussing her work as the coauthor in an article entitled Moving Towards Disease Modification in Polycythemia Vera, recently published in the journal Blood.

Dr. Lucia Masarova is an MPN Specialist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Leukemia at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Learn more about Dr. Masarova.

See More From Thrive MPNs

Related Programs:

Are There Predictors That an MPN May Be Progressing?

Myeloproliferative Neoplasm News and Research Updates

How Molecular Markers Affect MPN Treatment | Advances in Research

Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

Dr. Masarova, you are a coauthor in an article entitled Moving Towards Disease Modification in Polycythemia Vera, which was recently published in the journal Blood. Can you share some of the highlights of the article and what it means for PV patients?

Dr. Lucia Masarova:

Disease modification in polycythemia vera. I’m so excited finally being talking about this because we’ve been really, really, really so hungry for this term, although we still don’t know what it means.

So, we group together with lots of experts in the myeloproliferative neoplasm field and try to brainstorm and put together, “What does it actually mean?” And to me, and to all of us, it was to offer our patients the normal or not-normal lifespan without the consequences of the disease that they face. Because we historically divided polycythemia vera into high-risk or low-risk disease based on the age or previous history of thrombosis or clotting complications.

However, there is a huge area of patients that wouldn’t have either, and still suffer tremendously a bad quality of life, and ultimately also face the disease progression to myelofibrosis, which is the most actual complication of long-term polycythemia vera duration.

So, the concept of disease modification would be to actually prevent the complications to even occur. To allow our patient to live free of having the fear of living with a thrombosis or clotting complication or ultimately progress into myelofibrosis. We have to learn how to get there. What are the relevant endpoints of tools for us to utilize to really understand? We have learned a lot from seeing what we call molecular remissions, or control of the JAK2 mutation with certain medications, for example, interferons or latest ruxolitinib (Jakafi), the JAK inhibition, where the decrease of the allele burden, which represents the disease, is correlated with better outcome.

So, that is something that we have to be learning down the road with a longer follow-up. But that basically triggered us to focus on what can we do better? How do we prevent this from even happening rather than only controlling the historically main points of the disease which are presented by the blood counts symptoms and display? And where we are actually failing quite a lot of patients because despite them having a control count, they still don’t have a happy life, and lots of them suffer and complain.

So, this is something to be learned, and this is opening the disease modification not only for polycythemia vera, but also for all patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms, which have a little bit of a different feeling in the whole myeloid malignancies field. Because it is a very long disease, and it could evolve and change, and only now we starting to understand what does actually happen there. Why some people could live for 30 years, and never face any consequences, and the others would progress very fast?

So, disease modification would normally allow us to develop and learn more tools and better biomarkers, but also focus on drugs that are really needed to help with these long-term outcomes of our patients.

Choosing a Myelofibrosis Treatment Plan | Key Questions to Ask

November 28, 2023/in Evolve MF Tools, Evolve Myelofibrosis, MPN Newly Diagnosed, MPN Programs, MPN Treatments and Clinical Trials, MPN Videos ND, MPN Videos TC, Myeloproliferative Neoplasms /by Kara Rayburn

Choosing a Myelofibrosis Treatment Plan | Key Questions to Ask from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

When considering therapy for myelofibrosis, where do you start? Dr. Lucia Masarova shares advice and key questions to ask your provider when making myelofibrosis treatment decisions.

Dr. Lucia Masarova is an MPN Specialist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Leukemia at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Learn more about Dr. Masarova.

See More from Evolve Myelofibrosis

Related Resources:

Myelofibrosis Therapies in Clinical Trials | BET Inhibitors

Is Stem Cell Transplant the Only Curative Option for Myelofibrosis?

Thriving With an MPN: Advice for Setting Goals and Making Treatment Decisions

Myeloproliferative Neoplasm News and Research Updates

Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

When considering treatment options, what key questions should patients ask about their proposed treatment plan?

Dr. Lucia Masarova:

What’s the goal of my therapy? That is one of the most important things to know. Patients don’t even know how long they have to be on the medicines. What to do and how does it look when the medicine is still working? What do I need to be looking for in this medicine? And then what are we going to do if it fails? And what does it actually mean when it fails? What is the schedule? How burdensome the treatment is? How often do I have to come?

How often and what do I have to pay? Because the financial burden we have to really, really face the truth. It is very, very, very significant and somebody living with this disease predicates. It’s something we cannot take lightly, and we really have to combine our efforts and help with that. There are fantastic patient support organizations, but is not well-known, and is still in the rare – in rarer field. So, there’s more effort that we do.

When do I need more help? Where to be referred to more experts? What is the role of stem cell transplantations, if ever? So, those are really the key things.

Where do I find reliable resources to learn about my treatment, to learn about the disease? How do I connect with people from the same community? It is a disease with a lower age in a lot of circumstances and really facing this disease in the 30s or 40s or 50s is a really challenging thing. Although we have more and more medications currently, we really do have now to start thinking about their durability, about the safety for long-term, about their assessments for not performing, and where do we place the ultimate cure for stem cell transplants?

And how do we make it actually happen in more and more eligible patients? Because we have to face the truth. It is still not utilized to where it belongs. Patients are not being referred.

Patients are not being transplanted. And they may change with novel therapies. But we have to really consider all of our tools to offer the longest life span and to prevent all the disease trouble that comes with living with MPNs.

Katherine Banwell:

When it comes to clinical trials, where do they fit in in choosing treatment?

Dr. Lucia Masarova:

For me, it’s number one., and always number one.

That’s just the academic centers which are dedicated and focused on developing better and novel and up front and just tailored and customized drugs. But I know that the life is out there and it’s a little bit more challenging for everybody to deal with such a rare disease.

I would definitely say any patient that does not respond to current therapy in terms of uncontrolled symptoms or spleen, or other concerns should be referred and evaluated for participation in clinical trials. It is the only way we could understand what is driving that this is not responding and how could we help the best?

For patients with myelofibrosis, which is the most aggressive myeloproliferative neoplasm, I would definitely put it in. If they are not doing well on number one, JAK inhibitor, whatever is being used, they should be highly encouraged to be referred to centers and evaluated for clinical trials.

We have been developing as others and own strategies to potentiate the benefit and efficacy of the current treatments, as well as agents in what we call salvage or refractory setting.

However, I cannot emphasize enough to really focus on the first track that providers choose for their patients and utilize it to the best ability to avoid frequent or quick switching. Because in a salvage or refractory setting we cannot offer the same benefit we could offer upfront. We are pushing the disease, maybe being less responsive, maybe more refractory, if we don’t handle the medication we have currently on the table to the best ability.

Those are excellent medications, fantastic drugs, but there are shortcomings in each and every one of them. And we could do better to really start thinking about what has happened with the medication, why is it failing the patient, and what else could we do? And that’s only possible in the clinical trial setting, especially in such a rare disease as myeloproliferative neoplasms are.

Katherine Banwell:

Why is it important for patients to feel like they have a voice in their treatment options?

Dr. Lucia Masarova:

Because it’s about the patients. I would say, as I always say to my patients, “Nobody’s a better advocate for you than you.” I really, really, really like working with patients. They are educated. They understand where to find resources. They’re not afraid to ask. That challenges all of my team and everybody to really be engaged. They know when to notify me. Not to be quiet when they need something. And really raise their voice when something doesn’t work.

Patients know their bodies more than anybody can. And no data, no boxes, no books can ever tell me how it actually is. It’s not by chance we have two ears to listen and one mouth to talk.

So, we have to really listen what the patient has to say and take all the abilities, the resources, the knowledge, the capabilities to really make the best thing for the patients, because it is ultimately and only about that.

Stem Cell Transplant for AML | What Patients Should Know

October 20, 2023/in Acute Myeloid Leukemia, AML Newly Diagnosed, AML Programs, AML Thrive, AML Thrive Understanding, AML Treatments and Clinical Trials, AML Video ND, AML Video TC /by Kara Rayburn

Stem Cell Transplant for AML | What Patients Should Know from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

When is stem cell transplant an option for AML care? AML specialist Dr. Alice Mims discusses who this procedure is most appropriate for and how patients are monitored after transplant. Dr. Mims also addresses common issues following stem cell transplant, including joint pain.

Dr. Alice Mims is a hematologist specializing in acute and chronic myeloid conditions. Dr. Mims serves as the Acute Leukemia Clinical Research Director at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – James. Learn more about Dr. Mims.

When Should AML Patients Consider Joining a Clinical Trial?

Related Resources:

How Can You Thrive With AML? Advice for Navigating Care.

Thriving With AML | Tips and Support for Navigating Treatment

Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

Janet wants to know what factors enable a patient to achieve and continue in remission if they are not able to achieve stem cell transplant due to age restrictions.

Dr. Alice Mims:

So, I think first and foremost, I think it’s very important that there — that patients are aware that there shouldn’t be just strict, stringent cutoffs of age as a requirement for stem cell transplant.

And really, there’s a lot of research going on that we should take into account. Physiological age, and there are ways to measure that just to be sure that stem cell transplant really is not an option. And for patients who stem cell transplant is not an option, I think as we talked about earlier, so there can still be really great treatments that can get patients into remission and ongoing therapies with dosing adjustments again to decrease toxicity and improve quality of life and thinking about things like maintenance therapy as appropriate.

Katherine Banwell:

What are the age restrictions, and why are they there?

Dr. Alice Mims:

So, sometimes you will hear age 75. Really, no one above age 75 should move forward with transplant. And that’s based off of past data where they’ve explored transplant and seen increased toxicity. And from transplant in itself, increased side effects, increased risk of early mortality. And so, I do think it’s important to take the patient as a whole into consideration because again, you could have someone who’s 77 who may be running marathons, and in great shape, and not a lot of other healthcare issues, who may still do really well with treatment. And so, I think that’s – really needs to be taken in account, really the overall picture of health for the patient before making…

Katherine Banwell:

So, the…

Dr. Alice Mims:

…just a firm cutoff.

Katherine Banwell:

Right. Okay. So, it’s not cut and dry.

Dr. Alice Mims:

Exactly.

Katherine Banwell:

If you’re 75 or older, then you definitely can’t have stem cell transplant.

Dr. Alice Mims:

That’s correct.

Katherine Banwell:

Then you’re looking at everyone individually.

Dr. Alice Mims:

Yeah. So, it really should be looked at. And I still have some patients who will come to me and say, “Oh, I was told I’m 68 years old, I’m not a candidate.” And that always makes me take a step back. And then we kind of have to have that discussion again. And they may still not be a good candidate based off of other comorbidities or healthcare issues, but it shouldn’t just be a number rules you out for having that as an option.

Katherine Banwell:

Good to know. We received this question from Carl, “What does treatment look like following transplant? And what are doctors looking for when monitoring through blood tests?”

Dr. Alice Mims:

Sure. So, after transplant, the first three months is pretty intensive of being seen very frequently at your transplant center twice to once a week. You’re also on immunosuppressive medications to try to help prevent issues like graft-versus-host disease, which can be a complication from transplant.

And then over time if you’re doing well, we try to start tapering off those immunosuppressive regimens to see if you can tolerate that. And what I say to most of my patients for – who are undergoing transplant, it can take some time to really feel back to being yourself. It can take six months, it can take a year or longer. And sometimes your normal is a new normal based off of how you do and the side effects of the transplant in itself. So, you may not go back to if you’re here before transplant and before your diagnosis, it may be that this is your new normal. Just so people can be prepared and know what they’re signing up for.

Katherine Banwell:

And with the blood testing, what are you looking for when you’re monitoring a patient?

Dr. Alice Mims:

Sure. There are a few different things that we’re looking for when monitoring patients. So, one, making sure that the stem cells or the graft from the donor are recovering.

You want to see that blood counts, levels of white blood cells, red blood cells, platelets are getting to normal levels. You’re also assessing and making sure you’re not seeing signs of relapse. You’re checking levels of donor cells versus the patient cells within the stem cell — sorry, within the stem cell compartments. And so, we’re taking all of those into account as well as checking organ function and making sure there’s no signs of potential graft-versus-host disease as well.

Katherine Banwell:

Ryan wants to know, “I’m a year-and-a-half post-transplant, how can you tell if the aches and pains in your joints are normal aging, host versusgraft disease, the AML returning, or even something else?”

Dr. Alice Mims:

So, I think that’s also a difficult question to answer, because it really is patient-dependent. And so, I think if you’re having new joint aches or pains, it’s always important to reach out to your transplant team to make sure that – it could be any of the above.

And so you’re doing the appropriate workup with lab work, imaging, things that would be appropriate, or seeing certain specialists. Maybe orthopedist if needed because it could be I’d say less likely leukemic relapse, but still want to be sure. But it could be definitely complications from GVHD, or there are some joint issues that can evolve post-transplant, especially for people who are on long-term immunosuppressant medications. Or it could be the normal effects of aging. So, it’s always good to have that reassurance.

Expert Advice | Managing AML Symptoms and Treatment Side Effects

October 20, 2023/in Acute Myeloid Leukemia, AML Newly Diagnosed, AML Programs, AML Thrive, AML Thrive Understanding, AML Treatments and Clinical Trials, AML Video ND, AML Video TC /by Kara Rayburn

Expert Advice | Managing AML Symptoms and Treatment Side Effects from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

The symptoms of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), or side effects of treatment, can have an impact on daily life. Dr. Alice Mims, an AML specialist, discusses how common issues are treated and talks about why it’s important to share what you’re going through with your healthcare team.

Dr. Alice Mims is a hematologist specializing in acute and chronic myeloid conditions. Dr. Mims serves as the Acute Leukemia Clinical Research Director at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – James. Learn more about Dr. Mims.

AML Treatment Decisions | Understanding Factors That Impact Your Options

Related Resources:

Thriving With AML | Advice for Setting Goals and Making Treatment Decisions

Understanding AML Treatment Categories

Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

When it comes to living and thriving with AML, Dr. Mims, managing disease symptoms and treatment side effects is a big part of that.

Would you talk about how symptoms and side effects can impact life with AML?

Dr. Alice Mims:

Sure. So, I think from my perspective, what we are always trying to do when we’re moving forward with a treatment plan is of course, get patients into remission, but the purpose of getting into remission is not just to achieve that, but for patients to have quality of life. And so, there needs to be continued dialogue between the patient and the treatment team about how you’re feeling during treatment. Because they’re definitely based off of therapy, different side effects, things that could be not necessarily due to active leukemia anymore. And so there may need to be dose adjustments and other things that we do to the regimens in order to make you feel as good as possible while continuing on treatment.

Katherine Banwell:

Why is it so important for patients to speak up about any issues they may be having?

Dr. Alice Mims:

I think it’s important because you’re your own best advocate. Being the patient, being the person who’s living with having this diagnosis and going through the treatment, myself, or other colleagues as physicians, we can have a sense of what may be going on based off of numbers. But we’re not truly going to know how you’re feeling unless you speak up and let us know. And there may be things we could do with supportive medications, dosing adjustments as mentioned, that could help in making you hopefully feel better and less side effects and toxicities from treatment.

Katherine Banwell:

What are some common symptoms and side effects that you hear about?

Dr. Alice Mims:

Okay. Sure. So, different side effects that I would say that people can have, people can feel fatigued just from treatment in general. Some of our therapies can cause neuropathy, skin rashes, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea. And so, all of those are important along as mentioned with symptoms you may have from decreased blood counts that we do have interventions that we could implement to help the – make the therapy more tolerable.

Katherine Banwell:

So, for the side effects like fatigue, for example, what do you do about that?

Dr. Alice Mims:

So, I think it depends on the level of fatigue. Of course, we don’t have – I wish we had a pill that could just make fatigue improve. But if it’s really that the treatment is deriving it, and it’s impacting your quality of life, there are dose reductions or things we can do that may help with the level of fatigue you’re experiencing.

Katherine Banwell:

And what about some of the other side effects. You mentioned diarrhea.

Dr. Alice Mims:

Sure.

Katherine Banwell:

How is that handled?

Dr. Alice Mims:

Yeah. So, for issues from GI complications such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, we have really lots of choices for anti-nausea medicines and different combinations we can use or newer antiemetics that can help with that. And from a diarrhea perspective it depends on the treatment. But, of course, we want to make sure first and foremost there’s no infection. And if not, then there are good antidiarrheals we could add on to the regimen to help with that as well.

Coping With AML | Financial and Mental Health Resources

October 20, 2023/in Acute Myeloid Leukemia, AML Newly Diagnosed, AML Programs, AML Thrive, AML Thrive Collaborating, AML Treatments and Clinical Trials, AML Video ND, AML Video TC /by Kara Rayburn

Coping With AML | Financial and Mental Health Resources from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What emotional and financial support is available for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML)? Dr. Alice Mims shares advice about how to access mental health support and financial assistance for AML care.

Dr. Alice Mims is a hematologist specializing in acute and chronic myeloid conditions. Dr. Mims serves as the Acute Leukemia Clinical Research Director at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – James. Learn more about Dr. Mims.