Tag Archive for: DLBCL diagnosis

Becoming an Empowered and [ACT]IVATED DLBCL Patient

Patient Empowerment Network (PEN) is committed to helping educate and empower patients and care partners in the diffuse large B-cell cancer (DLBCL) community. DLBCL treatment options are ever-increasing with research advancements in treatments and testing, and it’s essential for patients and families to educate themselves with health literacy tools and resources on the latest information in DLBCL care. With this goal in mind, PEN kicked off the [ACT]IVATED Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) program, which aims to inform, empower, and engage patients to stay abreast of up-to-date information in DLBCL care.

The [ACT]IVATED DLBCL program is aimed at newly diagnosed DLBCL patients, yet it can help patients at any stage of disease. The initiative aids patients and care partners stay abreast of the latest options for their DLBCL, provides patient activation tools to help overcome barriers to accessing care, and powerful tips for self-advocacy, coping, and living well with cancer.

Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Disparities

Clinical trials are the primary way to forge DLBCL research and treatment advancements. Yet Black and Hispanic patients have been subject to clinical trial exclusion criteria at a higher rate than white patients. A recent DLBCL study showed that levels of lab test criteria of platelet count, hemoglobin, neutrophil count, bilirubin, and creatinine was responsible for the exclusion of 24 percent of patients who applied for clinical trial participation. And Hispanic and non-white DLBCL patients were more likely to be excluded from trials based on these lab test values – a clear disparity in DLBCL care.

Dr. Shah's [ACT]IVATION Tip

Access to specialized DLBCL care and clinical trials are important for all patients. Cancer patient Lisa Hatfield interviewed Dr. Nirav Shah, Associate Professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He explained about the barriers to care that some patients experience. “…I think that just simple geography is an issue that creates accessibility and impacts the type of care that a patient is able to get. I think beyond that, there are obviously economic factors that drive a patient’s ability to get specialized treatment. Do they have money to afford the gas to get to a larger center? Do they have the resources or the support system available to get a complex therapy where you would need those treatments, especially for relapsed disease? And then I think there are always going to be racial factors and accessibility issues that happen, where patients aren’t referred in time or patients aren’t getting necessarily the best care that they can.

Solutions for Improved DLBCL Care 

Dr. Nirav Shah shared about the impact of clinical trial participation. “We wouldn’t have CAR T if hundreds of patients didn’t go on these clinical trials and be willing to be a subject and go through a treatment that was at the time undefined and without knowing how efficacious it was going to be.…clinical trials are important because without patients participating in clinical trials, how can we do better?”

In order to improve and refine DLBCL treatments, more research must be carried out. Dr. Nirav Shah shared where things stand with DLBCL types and how optimal treatments may be found in the future. “…there’s something called the germinal center phenotype. The other one is called the activated B-cell phenotype and prognostically, these sort of behave differently. Currently, we’re treating them the same, but we’re hoping that in the future, we’ll actually have algorithms that are more refined so that they are giving the best treatment for each subtype. 

“So I know that in the world of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, we have lots of great treatments, which is the exciting part for me. My biggest concern remains that not all of those treatments are accessible to all the patients that they need them, and I think we all need to do a better job of educating our community, of making people aware that these options are available, and then also facilitating patients who have less money, patients who have less resources to be able to provide them what they need to be able to get the treatments that are best for them.

Healthcare providers are available to help DLBCL patients. Make sure to ask about a phone number for you or your loved one experiences concerning side effects. Dr. Nirav Shah explained the importance of staying in touch with the care team. “…call us. Let us know what’s going on. We can’t help you with your symptoms if we’re not aware, and we don’t mind those phone calls because we want to help patients through that journey.”

Dr. Shah also shared his perspective about DLBCL treatment advances and how hopeful he is about the future of DLBCL treatment. “…there have just been incredible advances, not just in chemotherapy, but immune therapy and targeted therapy, and so the goal is to keep getting better. I see a future where more and more patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma are cured in the front line, and more and more patients are cured in the second line.”

[ACT]IVATED DLBCL Program Resources

The [ACT]IVATED DLBCL program series takes a three-part approach to inform, empower, and engage both the overall DLBCL community and patient groups who experience health disparities. The series includes the following resources:

Though there are DLBCL disparities, patients and care partners can take action to educate themselves to help ensure optimal care. We hope you can take advantage of these valuable resources to assist in your DLBCL care for yourself or for your loved one.

[ACT]IVATION Tip:

By texting EMPOWER to +1-833-213-6657, you can receive personalized support from PENs Empowerment Leads. Whether you’re a DLBCL cancer patient, or caring for someone who is living with it, PEN’s Empowerment Leads will be here for you at every step of your journey. Learn more.

[ACT]IVATED DLBCL Resource Guide en español

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How Are Bispecific Antibodies Being Used in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Treatment?

How Are Bispecific Antibodies Being Used in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Treatment? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

How can diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients be helped with bispecific antibodies? Expert Dr. Nirav Shah from the Medical College of Wisconsin shares an explanation of bispecific antibodies and his perspective on potential approvals and how the treatment could serve additional DLBCL patients in the future.

Dr. Nirav Shah is an Associate Professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Learn more about Dr. Shah.

See More from [ACT]IVATED DLBCL

Download Resource Guide

Download Resource Guide en español

Related Resources:

What Promising Treatments Are Available for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Patients

What Promising Treatments Are Available for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Patients

How Can Patients Overcome Noted Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Disparities

How Can Patients Overcome Noted Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Disparities

Will Newer Therapies Be Curative for Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma Patients

Will Newer Therapies Be Curative for Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma Patients


Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

In addition to things like CAR-T therapy, blood cancer, there’s a lot of progress being made in something called bispecific antibodies. Can you talk about that a little bit, how that’s being looked at with DLBCL? 

Dr. Nirav N. Shah:

Yeah, so bispecific antibodies in a way are a drug-ish form of CAR T. So CAR T is complex, it involves collecting your immune system cells, reprogramming them, and often that involves sending them to a third party manufacturing site, that can sometimes take several weeks to manufacture, and the other issue with CAR T is that it’s limited in accessibility because it’s often only available in these larger regional centers, which often means a big city, and not everybody has access to that. Bispecific antibodies, I think are going to be really, really important therapies in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, and I think other cancers as well.

What they do is they give you a drug molecule, an antibody that on one end binds the T-cell, which is sort of that immune effector cell, and on the other end, targets the cancer cell, which in this case is a B cell, so in a way, it sort of works like CAR T. Now, it is not CAR T, and I wouldn’t necessarily compare those two, but the exciting thing is that we’ve seen really, really nice outcomes with bispecific antibodies, and while we don’t have one approved in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma today, I anticipate that those drugs are going to be available and approved in the very near future.

And why is that important? Because these drugs can now be given anywhere because they’re a drug molecule. Again, sites will have to do some training and learn how to give them, but there’s a potential for them to be really administered at regional sites and at locations that don’t require patients to travel long distances to get access to CAR T. Now, I’m not saying that we should use one therapy in lieu of the other, we should always do the best therapy for the patient, but thinking about accessibility, it’ll be great to have another option available. And not only that, these drugs also have been shown to have efficacy in patients that have failed CAR T. So that gives us another sort of tool in our tool basket to use, while I mentioned that we’re giving more and more CAR T in the second line, as this therapy got approved in that setting, we now have another option with bispecific antibodies for patients that don’t respond to CAR T, and, unfortunately, not everybody does respond to CAR T-cell therapy. So very excited. I hope, and I think there’ll be an approval in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma later this year. 


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Will Newer Therapies Be Curative for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Patients?

Will Newer Therapies Be Curative for Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma Patients? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Will newer diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) therapies be curative for patients? Expert Dr. Nirav Shah from the Medical College of Wisconsin shares his perspective on advances in DLBCL treatments and his hopes for the future of DLBCL care.

Dr. Nirav Shah is an Associate Professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Learn more about Dr. Shah.

See More from [ACT]IVATED DLBCL

Download Resource Guide

Download Resource Guide en español

Related Resources:

What Is the Ann Arbor Staging System for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

What Is the Ann Arbor Staging System for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

How Can Your Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Care Team Help in Treatment Decisions

How Can Your Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Care Team Help in Treatment Decisions

How Are Bispecific Antibodies Being Used in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Treatment?

How Are Bispecific Antibodies Being Used in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Treatment?


Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

Dr. Shah, can you give all DLBCL patients a little bit of hope, even those who are relapsed and refractory in the future sometime, can you see any of these newer therapies being curative for all diffuse large B-cell lymphoma patients? 

Dr. Nirav N. Shah:

Yeah, so that’s the hope. And that’s a goal. I can tell you that in my time in practice, which is about 10 years now as a lymphoma provider, I’ve seen improvements that almost blow my mind. What’s happened in this decade, it almost seems more consequential than what happened in the 20 years prior, there have just been incredible advances, not just in chemotherapy, but immune therapy and targeted therapy, and so the goal is to keep getting better. I see a future where more and more patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma are cured in the front line, and more and more patients are cured in the second line.

I think it’s very, very hard, unfortunately, to say that every single patient with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma will be cured even 20 to 30 years from now, because cancer is tricky and cancer is hard, and each patient, again, is also an individual, and how they react to these treatments can also be challenging and hard. But I can tell you that my goal and the goal of so many other people like me, who not only treat lymphoma but also participating in clinical trials and do research, is to do better. And so I hope that we see a day where the great majority of patients with DLBCL are cured and able to move on and live their lives without this cancer. 


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Is Stem Cell Transplantation Still a Treatment Option for Some DLBCL Patients?

Is Stem Cell Transplantation Still a Treatment Option for Some DLBCL Patients? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Can diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients expect to undergo stem cell transplant? Expert Dr. Nirav Shah from the Medical College of Wisconsin explains some alternatives to stem cell transplant in specific situations and shares his perspective about how the use of stem cell transplants may evolve in the future. 

Dr. Nirav Shah is an Associate Professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Learn more about Dr. Shah.

[ACT]IVATION TIP:

“…don’t discard transplantation because it’s an older therapy, it’s just one that needs to be used in the right scenario for each patient.”

See More from [ACT]IVATED DLBCL

Download Resource Guide

Download Resource Guide en español

Related Resources:

What Promising Treatments Are Available for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Patients

What Promising Treatments Are Available for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Patients

When Should CAR-T Therapy Be Considered for Relapsed_Refractory DLBCL Patients

When Should CAR-T Therapy Be Considered for Relapsed/Refractory DLBCL Patients

How Can Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Treatment Symptoms Be Managed

How Can Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Treatment Symptoms Be Managed


Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:  

So in light of all of these newer therapies, there’s still a place for stem cell transplantation with the DLBCL patients? 

Dr. Nirav N. Shah:

Yeah, great question. So the goal is always to do better. And so we have this new exciting therapy called CAR T, that for a lot of patients is going to replace the role of the stem cell transplant. However, there still is a role for transplant in patients that have later relapse, so those patients who relapse one to two years, transplant is still a standard of care and an option that I would consider for my patients, and there’s more than one type of stem cell transplant out there. So we often think about autologous transplants in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, where we use our own immune system to rebuild it after giving a high intensity chemotherapy treatment to eliminate the cancer. But there’s a second type of transplant called allogeneic stem cell transplant, and that is where we actually replace your whole immune system with one from a healthy donor.

Our group, actually, for patients that fail CAR T-cell therapy, which is one of our better treatment options that we have, but again, not 100 percent effective, we’ve used allogeneic stem cell transplant to try and cure those patients and offer them something where we replace their immune system with one from a healthy donor to be able to get rid of the cancer where other treatments have failed.

So I think that how we use transplant is going to be redefined with newer therapies and immune therapies like CAR , immune T or bispecific antibodies. But I do think that either auto or allogeneic transplant is still going to be part of the treatment algorithms, especially for those patients who have failed other options. So my activation point is don’t discard transplantation because it’s an older therapy, it’s just one that needs to be used in the right scenario for each patient. 


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How Can Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Treatment Symptoms Be Managed?

How Can Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Patients Manage Treatment Symptoms? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

How can diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) treatment symptoms be managed? Expert Dr. Nirav Shah from the Medical College of Wisconsin explains common symptoms and side effects that patients experience and how they can help in managing their care along with their team.

Dr. Nirav Shah is an Associate Professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Learn more about Dr. Shah.

[ACT]IVATION TIP:

“…call us. Let us know what’s going on. We can’t help you with your symptoms if we’re not aware, and we don’t mind those phone calls because we want to help patients through that journey.”

See More from [ACT]IVATED DLBCL

Download Resource Guide

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Related Resources:

How Is Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Explained to a Newly Diagnosed Patient

How Is Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Explained to a Newly Diagnosed Patient?

When Should CAR-T Therapy Be Considered for Relapsed_Refractory DLBCL Patients

When Should CAR-T Therapy Be Considered for Relapsed/Refractory DLBCL Patients

Is Stem Cell Transplantation Still a Treatment Option for Some DLBCL Patients

Is Stem Cell Transplantation Still a Treatment Option for Some DLBCL Patients


Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

So, Dr. Shah, newly diagnosed DLBCL patients, they come in and typically, you would most likely prescribe a chemotherapy regimen, and then maybe down the road they may see something like CAR-T therapy. Can you explain what type of symptoms they may or may not have, and how they can manage those symptoms and maybe even a tip on who to call when they experience symptoms? 

Dr. Nirav N. Shah:

Yeah, it’s a great question, Lisa. So the front-line regimen for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in 2023 is a combination chemotherapy regimen. The good news is we’ve gotten so much better at delivering these drugs in a safe and efficacious manner, we’re really good at preventing those horrible things that we think about when we watch movies of people vomiting all the time and being nauseous and losing weight. We have really good antiemetics, we develop a program to deal with nausea or vomiting should it occur, and escalate our treatments to prevent it in those patients that are more sensitive to the chemotherapy drugs.

That being said, it’s still chemotherapy. And so people do feel the side effects. I think the hardest side effect for a lot of people to endure is hair loss, these combination chemotherapy do cause hair loss, and then that often is even a little bit harder for women, just given the stigma for hair and how important that is to some of our female patients, and so these are challenges that I try to discuss with patients to help them anticipate. Again, we have lots of different services at our institution, we have a wig service, a place for people to go to find options on how to deal with that.

The biggest medical symptoms that I tell people that everybody experiences is just fatigue. We’re putting poison in your body to kill a cancer. We’re doing it for a good reason, but that just wipes people out. Most patients will not have the energy, the appetite, the drive that they normally have when they’re feeling well. And again, for the most part, that’s short-lived, but for some patients that can even last three to six months after completing their chemotherapy regimen. There’s lots of individual side effects that I warn them about, the one that I am most concerned about for my patients is infection, because chemotherapy doesn’t only kill the part of the immune system, the lymphoma, it can also weaken the immune system, a part of the immune system that is there to protect you from infection.

And so we tell them to monitor for fevers, and if they’re not feeling well to call us in. We provide our patients numbers for 24/7 contact. So we have a number that they can call to, and no matter when they call, they’ll be able to get either an on-call provider or the team if it’s during the daytime, to be able to help them with whatever issue or symptoms that they’re having. And so my activation point to my patients is, call us. Let us know what’s going on. We can’t help you with your symptoms if we’re not aware, and we don’t mind those phone calls because we want to help patients through that journey. 


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Why Is Clinical Trial Participation Vital for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Patients?

Why Is Clinical Trial Participation Vital for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Patients? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Why is it vital for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients to participate in clinical trials? Expert Dr. Nirav Shah from the Medical College of Wisconsin shares his perspective on the benefits of clinical trial participation and advice for patients who are considering joining a trial.

Dr. Nirav Shah is an Associate Professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Learn more about Dr. Shah.

[ACT]IVATION TIP:

“…for clinical trials is, consider them. They may not be right for you, and that’s okay.”

See More from [ACT]IVATED DLBCL

Download Resource Guide

Download Resource Guide en español

Related Resources:

What Promising Treatments Are Available for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Patients

What Promising Treatments Are Available for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Patients

How Can Patients Overcome Noted Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Disparities

How Can Patients Overcome Noted Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Disparities

Will Newer Therapies Be Curative for Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma Patients

Will Newer Therapies Be Curative for Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma Patients


Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

Okay, Dr. Shah, why is clinical trial participation so important with DLBCL patients, and what advice do you have for those patients considering a clinical trial? 

Dr. Nirav N. Shah:

Yeah, so number one, I always tell my patients one thing is it’s, clinical trials are an opportunity or an option, not a mandate. And so I never want a patient thinking that they have to participate in the clinical trial, participating in a clinical trial is an opportunity to help define potentially, the next treatment. Every treatment we’ve talked about up until this point was because kind, courageous people were willing to participate in a clinical trial. We wouldn’t have CAR T if hundreds of patients didn’t go on these clinical trials and be willing to be a subject and go through a treatment that was at the time undefined and without knowing how efficacious it was going to be.

And so clinical trials are important because without patients participating in clinical trials, how can we do better? That being said, a clinical trial is not right for every patient, and so it’s a value, it’s a judgment that each individual has to make. But I know that I really value my patients that are willing to participate because they all become part of that story about how to improve outcomes for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma for that patient who’s diagnosed five years from today or 10 years from today. And their participation, again, may not be recognized in the time that they’re participating, but what they did helps define the future of how we treat this disease. So my activation point for clinical trials is, consider them. They may not be right for you, and that’s okay. 


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When Should CAR-T Therapy Be Considered for Relapsed/Refractory DLBCL Patients?

When Should CAR-T Therapy Be Considered for Relapsed/Refractory DLBCL Patients? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

When can relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients benefit from CAR T-cell therapy? Expert Dr. Nirav Shah from the Medical College of Wisconsin explains study results that compared chemo versus CAR T-cell therapy in relapsed DLBCL patients and the importance of looking at the timing of relapse.

Dr. Nirav Shah is an Associate Professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Learn more about Dr. Shah.

[ACT]IVATION TIP:

“…for people thinking about what is the best treatment for CAR T is think about how the disease is behaving, and did you relapse early or did you relapse late?”

See More from [ACT]IVATED DLBCL

Download Resource Guide

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Related Resources:

How Can Your Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Care Team Help in Treatment Decisions

How Can Your Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Care Team Help in Treatment Decisions

What DLBCL Treatment Options Are There for Relapsed/Refractory Patients

What DLBCL Treatment Options Are There for Relapsed/Refractory Patients

How Are Bispecific Antibodies Being Used in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Treatment?

How Are Bispecific Antibodies Being Used in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Treatment?


Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

When do you say that CAR-T therapy should be used for relapsed/refractory patients? Is it after the first line of therapy has failed, or when do you tell your patients to consider that? 

Dr. Nirav N. Shah:

Yeah, so there was a large clinical trial that compared outcomes for those patients who had early relapse of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. So within 12 months of finishing their R-CHOP chemotherapy, and they compared that to what was our historical standard, was to get more chemotherapy and then consider a stem cell transplant. And CAR T did better, and CAR T had better outcomes. And then recently, they just actually demonstrated that those patients that got CAR T early as a second-line therapy actually had better survival. For patients with early relapse in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, the standard of care is to go right to CAR T-cell therapy as long as you’re a candidate, which means you have to be healthy enough, have the social support and the resources to be able to go through that therapy, which does require you to be within 45 minutes of a CAR-T center for about a month.

And again, we talked about, again, there’s issues with accessibility, which limits it sometimes, the availability to CAR T to all of our patients. Now, for those patients who relapse later, and we see that, patients who relapse a year-and-a-half, two years or even three or four years after their initial treatment, for those patients, the standard of care is to give a second-line chemotherapy, and then based on how well you respond to that, you would consider either doing a stem cell transplant if you had a very nice response to that second-line therapy, or if you were refractory to that second-line therapy, then getting CAR T as sort of a third-line therapy.

So again, there are lots of caveats here. The main distinction I think about is, when did you relapse? Did you relapse earlier or late? And based on that, choosing the treatment that’s most appropriate for that situation. So my activation tip for people thinking about what is the best treatment for CAR T is think about how the disease is behaving, and did you relapse early or did you relapse late? 


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What DLBCL Treatment Options Are There for Relapsed/Refractory Patients?

What DLBCL Treatment Options Are There for Relapsed/Refractory Patients? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What can relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients look to for treatment options? Expert Dr. Nirav Shah from the Medical College of Wisconsin shares research updates for relapsed/refractory DLBCL patients and his perspective about advances in DLBCL care.

Dr. Nirav Shah is an Associate Professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Learn more about Dr. Shah.

[ACT]IVATION TIP:

“…for those patients who have relapsed DLBCL, is learn your options and make the decision that is best that fits your personal needs, your ability to handle the treatment with your doctor.”

See More from [ACT]IVATED DLBCL

Download Resource Guide

Download Resource Guide en español

Related Resources:

What Is the Ann Arbor Staging System for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

What Is the Ann Arbor Staging System for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

When Should CAR-T Therapy Be Considered for Relapsed_Refractory DLBCL Patients

When Should CAR-T Therapy Be Considered for Relapsed/Refractory DLBCL Patients

Will Newer Therapies Be Curative for Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma Patients

Will Newer Therapies Be Curative for Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma Patients


Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

What treatment options are available for patients who have either relapsed with DLBCL or are refractory to certain treatment options, meaning that they are no longer responding to those treatment options? 

Dr. Nirav N. Shah:

Yeah, so the good news is, is for DLBCL, even in the relapsed setting, we have lots of options available, and that’s really exciting. The way that I look at a patient is how quickly did they relapse and then are they eligible for a higher intensity treatment or not. We know that patients who relapse early, within the first 12 months, that for that group of patients, the best therapy based on clinical trials is to get them to a CAR T-cell therapy type treatment, which has high efficacy and the potential to cure patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. We now have patients who are more than five years out after CAR T with relapsed disease and an ongoing remission.

Now, for some patients who relapse later, we still consider things like stem cell transplantation, which was sort of the standard of care for 20 plus years until recent data showed that CAR T might be a better option in those patients who relapse early. Now, we have a group of patients that often aren’t candidates for high intensity treatment because they’re older because they have medical problems, or because they live too far away, and they can’t commit to the three to four weeks that it takes to be able to get a therapy like CAR T or stem cell transplant at a larger community or a larger academic hospital.

And the good news is that we even have options for them, so there’s new chemotherapy regimens, new antibody-based treatments that again, I like to think of those medications as more disease control rather than disease cure, but for some patients, disease control is often adequate. It allows him to be functional, go to work, with the milder therapy that sort of meets their, again, personal and individualized needs. And so my activation tip for those patients who have relapsed DLBCL, is learn your options and make the decision that is best that fits your personal needs, your ability to handle the treatment with your doctor. 


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How Can Patients Overcome Noted Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Disparities?

How Can Patients Overcome Noted Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Disparities? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

How can diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients overcome noted care disparities? Expert Dr. Nirav Shah from Medical College of Wisconsin explains some common factors that impact DLBCL care and how the gap in care can be bridged for more equitable care for all. 

Dr. Nirav Shah is an Associate Professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Learn more about Dr. Shah.

[ACT]IVATION TIP:

“..we all need to do a better job of educating our community, of making people aware that these options are available, and then also facilitating patients who have less money, patients who have less resources to be able to provide them what they need to be able to get the treatments that are best for them.”

See More from [ACT]IVATED DLBCL

Download Resource Guide

Download Resource Guide en español

Related Resources:

How Do Different Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Subtypes Impact Treatment Options

How Do Different Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Subtypes Impact Treatment Options

Why Is Clinical Trial Participation Vital for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Patients

Why Is Clinical Trial Participation Vital for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Patients

Will Newer Therapies Be Curative for Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma Patients

Will Newer Therapies Be Curative for Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma Patients


Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

So what are the noted disparities that are seen in DLBCL? Sometimes we talk about clinical trials. Some people don’t have access to those clinical trials, what are other disparities, and how can patients overcome those to get the best outcome? 

Dr. Nirav N. Shah:

Yeah, absolutely. So I think that America is an incredibly large and diverse country. I think we know that by just watching the news with people of all walks and colors, and different opinions on how they view their world. And so I think one simple bias is I am a lymphoma specialist at an academic center. However, I live in a larger city, in the city of Milwaukee and covering a geographic area, even of the size of the state of Wisconsin, not everybody has access to this center. Some of my patients have to drive three, four, or five hours away to get complex treatments that aren’t even available in the community or even have the opportunity for clinical trials, which are most often centered in larger academic centers.

So I think that just simple geography is an issue that creates accessibility and impacts the type of care that a patient is able to get. I think beyond that, there are obviously economic factors that drive a patient’s ability to get specialized treatment. Do they have money to afford the gas to get to a larger center? Do they have the resources or the support system available to get a complex therapy where you would need those treatments, especially for relapsed disease? And then I think there are always going to be racial factors and accessibility issues that happen, where patients aren’t referred in time or patients aren’t getting necessarily the best care that they can.

So I know that in the world of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, we have lots of great treatments, which is the exciting part for me. My biggest concern remains that not all of those treatments are accessible to all the patients that they need them, and I think we all need to do a better job of educating our community, of making people aware that these options are available, and then also facilitating patients who have less money, patients who have less resources to be able to provide them what they need to be able to get the treatments that are best for them.


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How Can Your Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Care Team Help in Treatment Decisions?

How Can Your Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Care Team Help in Treatment Decisions? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

How can diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) treatment decisions be aided by your care team? Expert Dr. Nirav Shah from the Medical College of Wisconsin explains key factors that help guide treatment decisions and how some patient characteristics may alter dosing and treatment approaches.

Dr. Nirav Shah is an Associate Professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Learn more about Dr. Shah.

[ACT]IVATION TIP:

“..try to come up with an individualized treatment plan that meets the needs of your disease and your situation.”

See More from [ACT]IVATED DLBCL

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When Should CAR-T Therapy Be Considered for Relapsed/Refractory DLBCL Patients

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Is Stem Cell Transplantation Still a Treatment Option for Some DLBCL Patients


Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield: 

So, Dr. Shah, how do you work with your DLBCL patients in helping them make treatment decisions, and what should they consider when they are making their treatment decisions? 

Dr. Nirav N. Shah:

 It’s a great question, Lisa. I think that in the current area that we’re practicing, the term I use is one size doesn’t fit all. I really try to meet with the patient, understand number one, their disease, so the biology of their disease, what subtype or phenotype is it, what stage is it presenting in. Then I try to think about the actual patient characteristics, what are their goals of care, what is their age, and what are their comorbid conditions that may impact our ability to treat them and other factors, social factors. Do they have a support system? What is the distance that they’re driving to come here to be able to get treated here, and so I take all of this information together and try to come up with the best treatment option that is available for that patient.

Now again, the majority of people are going to get common regimen such as R-CHOP chemotherapy, which is one of the standard of care for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, but even within them, there are different ways you can administer it if you’re a particularly older patient or have a lot of medical problems. And so I really believe in trying to individualize the treatment plan for the patient, because each one of us are different, and how we tolerate things and what our body has been through in the past is going to impact how we’re going to be able to handle a specific treatment. And so my activation tip to patients about this is to try to come up with an individualized treatment plan that meets the needs of your disease and your situation.


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How Do Different Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Subtypes Impact Treatment Options?

How Do Different Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Subtypes Impact Treatment Options? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

How are diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) subtypes impacting treatment options? Expert Dr. Nirav Shah from the Medical College of Wisconsin explains key factors that help determine DLBCL subtype and the importance of knowing your subtype for optimal care. 

Dr. Nirav Shah is an Associate Professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Learn more about Dr. Shah.

[ACT]IVATION TIP:

“…know your subtype of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, so you can understand what treatment is best for that variant.”

See More from [ACT]IVATED DLBCL

Download Resource Guide

Download Resource Guide en español

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What Promising Treatments Are Available for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Patients

What Promising Treatments Are Available for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Patients

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How Can Patients Overcome Noted Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Disparities

How Can Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Treatment Symptoms Be Managed

How Can Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Treatment Symptoms Be Managed


Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

What are the subtypes of DLBCL, and how does that impact treatment options? 

Dr. Nirav N. Shah:

Yeah, so I think I may have talked about that a little bit earlier. So we call it diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, but it’s really not one disease, there are multiple subtypes, so one thing is a cell of origin, and this sort of says what part of the lymph node does this diffuse large B-cell lymphoma originate from. And so there’s something called the germinal center phenotype. The other one is called the activated B-cell phenotype and prognostically, these sort of behave differently. Currently, we’re treating them the same, but we’re hoping that in the future, we’ll actually have algorithms that are more refined so that they are giving the best treatment for each subtype.

I mentioned earlier that there’s a variant called double-hit lymphoma that we think is particularly aggressive, and for that variant, I would actually consider clinical trials as an option if they’re available to you, but outside of a clinical trial, we do give higher intensity chemotherapy regimens, there’s more than one standard of care in that setting. But, again, important to understand what is your DLBCL type and what are some of these other molecular mutations that might be there that would impact that frontline treatment. So my activation tip for this is to know your subtype of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, so you can understand what treatment is best for that variant. 


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What Promising Treatments Are Available for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Patients?

What Promising Treatments Are Available for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Patients? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What promising diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) treatments are available for patients? Expert Dr. Nirav Shah from Medical College of Wisconsin shares an update on emerging research and patient types who may benefit from potential treatment approvals.

Dr. Nirav Shah is an Associate Professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Learn more about Dr. Shah.

[ACT]IVATION TIP:

“…understand their stage of disease and review the treatment options available for that stage and subtype of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma to best optimize the regimen to each individual patient.”

See More from [ACT]IVATED DLBCL

Download Resource Guide

Download Resource Guide en español

Related Resources:

How Do Different Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Subtypes Impact Treatment Options

How Do Different Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Subtypes Impact Treatment Options

What DLBCL Treatment Options Are There for Relapsed/Refractory Patients

What DLBCL Treatment Options Are There for Relapsed/Refractory Patients

Is Stem Cell Transplantation Still a Treatment Option for Some DLBCL Patients

Is Stem Cell Transplantation Still a Treatment Option for Some DLBCL Patients


Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

Dr. Shah, can you speak to some promising treatments that are available now for DLBCL patients? 

Dr. Nirav N. Shah:

Yeah, so while we consider DLBCL to be one disease, there is a lot of heterogeneity in it, and so there are sort of subtypes of DLBCL that we approach differently. And so the most well-known standard of care for DLBCL is a chemotherapy regimen called R-CHOP. It’s a five-drug regimen, it’s given once every three weeks for up to six cycles, again, depending on the stage, the presentation that the patient is in.

However, the goal has always been to do better than R-CHOP and there is an exciting new regimen called pola-R-CHP which gives you a drug called polatuzumab (Polivy) in lieu of an older drug called vincristine (Vincasar PFS), which is part of the R-CHOP regimen, and that regimen was tested head-to-head against R-CHOP chemotherapy and did have a slight improvement about a benefit of 5 percent to 6 percent in terms of its ability to induce a long-term remission, and again, that number may sound small, but every patient matters, and so that regimen, some of us have started adapting that, although I will note that that regimen is currently not FDA-approved, and so its accessibility and availability may be limited, although I’m optimistic that this regimen will be approved and become an option for the frontline for patients to come.

There are some types of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma that are a little bit more aggressive, we call some of these double-hit lymphomas, so a term that you may hear if you’re diagnosed and it’s something a doctor may talk about, and so for those patients, we often use a higher intensive regimen, the regimen that we use at our institution is a regimen called dose-adjusted EPOCH and so you can see here that it’s a little bit complicated, there are caveats here, there’s different treatment options available, and the number of treatments we give is partially based on how you present and the stage that you initially show up with. And so I think that it’s important to have a conversation with your physician. And so my activation tip for patients is to understand their stage of disease and review the treatment options available for that stage and subtype of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma to best optimize the regimen to each individual patient. 


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What Is the Ann Arbor Staging System for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma?

What Is the Ann Arbor Staging System for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What is the diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) system called Ann Arbor staging? Expert Dr. Nirav Shah from the Medical College of Wisconsin explains how DLBCL differs from other blood cancers and symptoms that characterize each DLBCL stage.

Dr. Nirav Shah is an Associate Professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Learn more about Dr. Shah.

[ACT]IVATION TIP:

“…make sure they really understand their scan and what stage they are, and how that impacts the treatment that the doctor is offering.”

See More from [ACT]IVATED DLBCL

Download Resource Guide

Download Resource Guide en español

Related Resources:

How Is Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Explained to a Newly Diagnosed Patient

How Is Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Explained to a Newly Diagnosed Patient?

How Can Patients Overcome Noted Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Disparities

How Can Patients Overcome Noted Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Disparities

How Are Bispecific Antibodies Being Used in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Treatment?

How Are Bispecific Antibodies Being Used in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Treatment?


Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

I know as a blood cancer patient, my number one question is, what stage do I have and what is my prognosis? So can you explain the staging system a little bit, I think it’s called the Ann Arbor staging system for DLBCL and then maybe prognoses that you may or may not feel comfortable giving to each patient.

Dr. Nirav N. Shah:

Yeah, so lymphoma is a little bit different, because it’s a blood cancer that involves lymph nodes, and so how we stage it is based on the location and the number of lymph nodes involved, if, for example, you had one lymph node in your neck, and that’s all you had, we would consider you to have stage I diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. If you had more than one lymph node, but on the same half of the body, thinking of your diaphragm as sort of a midpoint, we would then consider you to have stage II disease. If you have lymph nodes on both halves of the body, we would then consider you to have stage III disease, and if you have organ involvement, so bone marrow involvement, liver involvement, kidney involvement or lung involvement, we consider those patients to be stage IV.

Now, to a certain degree, the higher the stage, the worse the prognosis, but as I stated earlier, even patients with stage IV lymphoma can be cured, and that’s different than other cancers, right? When we think about stage IV colon or stage IV breast, many of those patients, we actually tell them that they’re in a non-curative setting, and so while the prognosis for stage III and IV is a little bit worse than those patients who have stage I to II disease, I do try to focus on that we do treat with curative intent, and we do alter our treatment regimens according to the stage of disease that they present with, and so my activation tip for patients in this setting is to make sure they really understand their scan and what stage they are, and how that impacts the treatment that the doctor is offering. 


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How Is Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Explained to a Newly Diagnosed Patient?

How Is Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Explained to a Newly Diagnosed Patient? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

How do diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) experts explain this cancer to newly diagnosed patients? Expert Dr. Nirav Shah shares his perspective on how he leads patients through their diagnosis and treatment phases and key points that he shares to educate his patients.

Dr. Nirav Shah is an Associate Professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Learn more about Dr. Shah.

[ACT]IVATION TIP:

“…learn as much as they can about this diagnosis and take notes, because I know that often patients in that first visit don’t really register everything. Just because they’re feeling overwhelmed.”

See More from [ACT]IVATED DLBCL

Download Resource Guide

Download Resource Guide en español

Related Resources:

What Is the Ann Arbor Staging System for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

What Is the Ann Arbor Staging System for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

How Can Your Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Care Team Help in Treatment Decisions

How Can Your Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Care Team Help in Treatment Decisions

Why Is Clinical Trial Participation Vital for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Patients

Why Is Clinical Trial Participation Vital for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Patients


Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield: 

Okay. So, Dr. Shah, you have a patient that comes into your office newly diagnosed with DLBCL, maybe from their…or they’ve heard it from their primary care provider, they understand, they looked it up on the Internet, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, they see the lymphoma, I would anyway, I’d see lymphoma, and I know it’s cancer. What’s included in your initial evaluation, how do you explain in basic terms to a newly diagnosed patient what DLBCL is? 

Dr. Nirav N. Shah: 

Yeah, great question, Lisa. I think that any time somebody gets that diagnosis with a cancer label on it, it’s incredibly overwhelming, and so what I try to do when I see my new patients is first simply just learn about them. How did this come about, what symptoms led to this diagnosis? Learn about their past medical history, which impacts how I might treat them and what options I’m going to give them, and sort of learn about who they are a little bit, learn about their family, what they do for a living, because I think those are important values to know about your patients, when trying to make a treatment decision.

What I try to explain to these patients is that DLBCL, yes, it is a cancer. Yes, it is, unfortunately, an aggressive cancer, one that can be very rapidly growing, but unlike a lot of cancers, it is a curable type of cancer, and I really try to highlight that like all cancers, unfortunately, not every single patient is cured with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, but initially, I think there’s reason to have optimism and hope because the goal is, for me, when I meet a new DLBCL patient to provide a curative intent treatment approach for them.

As a part of that initial evaluation, we need to know more about where their disease is and in lymphoma. We often use a PET-CT, which is a special type of scan that sort of lights up areas that can be involved with lymphoma. In some cases, we do a bone marrow biopsy, although that is less indicated now because of how good the PET scans are, and then we talk about other testing, a lot of the chemotherapies can cause problems to your heart, so we often do an ultrasound of your heart to make sure it’s healthy enough to be able to tolerate some of the regimens that we consider for this disease, and then we talk about access in terms of how are we going to get the chemotherapy into the patient, and whether or not they would need a device like a port. But the main focus of the conversation is explaining the disease, teaching about the disease and focusing on that unlike other cancers, even stage III or IV diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is a curable entity, and the key is moving promptly getting the workup done in an efficient but complete manner and then initiating a treatment plan. 

Lisa Hatfield:

Right, thank you. And if you had one tip for patients when they first come in, what would you tell this patient that’s coming to see you in? 

Dr. Nirav N. Shah:

Yeah. I think my activation tip would be to learn as much as they can about this diagnosis and take notes, because I know that often patients in that first visit don’t really register everything. Just because they’re feeling overwhelmed.


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