Tag Archive for: Dr. Krina Patel

Relapsed and Refractory Myeloma Defined

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Relapsed and Refractory Myeloma Defined from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Myeloma expert Dr. Krina Patel reviews the difference between relapsed and refractory myeloma and how these distinctions may impact care and treatment.

Dr. Krina Patel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Lymphoma/Myeloma at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Dr. Patel is involved in research and cares for patients with multiple myeloma. Learn more about Dr. Patel, here.

Related Resources:

Expert Advice for Newly Diagnosed Myeloma Patients

 The Role of a Myeloma Specialist on Your Care Team

 Myeloma Induction and Consolidation Therapy Defined

Transcript:

Katherine:  

Dr. Patel, could you define what relapsed myeloma is?

Dr. Patel:     

Yes, so as of today, for the majority of our patients we can’t cure myeloma to the point where we treat it, and it’s gone forever, right? I’m hoping one day we get there. And we’re getting better, but we’re not there yet. However, myeloma’s very, very treatable. So, what relapsed means is that, once you’ve had initial therapy after you’ve been diagnosed, our goal is to get that myeloma to as low as possible level so that it hibernates as long as possible. But eventually, that myeloma’s going to start waking back up. So, when it does, that’s called a relapse. That now, the proteins are coming up, the myeloma cells are growing and we need to do something to knock it back down again. So, that’s relapsed disease.

Katherine:

How is that different from refractory myeloma?

Dr. Patel:

That’s a great question. We talk about relapsed refractory all the time for myeloma. So, refractory actually means that your myeloma started waking up while on a certain medication. So, if you were on no medicines and then your myeloma came up, that’s considered relapsed. That’s not refractory. However, biggest example I can give you is when patients are on maintenance therapy after stem cell transplant, for instance. When they’re all on maintenance and their myeloma starts coming up while on maintenance, then they are considered refractory to that drug; so, if it’s lenalidomide (Revlimid), if it’s bortezomib (Velcade), whichever one it is.

So, any time the myeloma’s coming up while on active treatment, you become refractory. So, we talk about triple refractory or penta-refractory, and what that really means is how many drugs is your myeloma refractory to.

So, if you’re refractory to a proteasome inhibitor plus an immunomodulatory drug plus a CD38 antibody, right – I can give you examples of all of those, but basically different categories –then you’re considered triple refractory. And the more refractory it is, the harder it is to treat and the more novel therapies we need.

Katherine:

So, if a patient is taking three or four different drugs, how can you pin it down to know which drug or all of them are causing the refractory myeloma?

Dr. Patel:

So, it would be all of them. Let’s say, salvage therapy. You’re on three different medications or four different medications, usually three. We would say, if the myeloma’s coming up while you’re on all of them, you’re technically refractory to now all those medications.

Katherine:

All of those. Okay, all right.

The Role of a Myeloma Specialist on Your Care Team

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The Role of a Myeloma Specialist on Your Care Team from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Why should you seek a consultation with a myeloma expert? Dr. Krina Patel discusses the important roles a specialist can play in your myeloma care, even from a distance.

Dr. Krina Patel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Lymphoma/Myeloma at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Dr. Patel is involved in research and cares for patients with multiple myeloma. Learn more about Dr. Patel, here.

Related Resources:

Expert Advice for Newly Diagnosed Myeloma Patients

 Relapsed and Refractory Myeloma Defined

 Myeloma Induction and Consolidation Therapy Defined

Transcript:

Katherine:  

You mentioned the healthcare team. Dr. Patel. How does a myeloma specialist fit into that care team?

Dr. Patel:

So, I will say, as a myeloma specialist, I probably have three different ways that I am involved in different patient’s care. So, I have patients who are from Houston, where I’m at, that come to MD Anderson for their treatment. So, I see them on a regular basis if they’re on treatment, or I’m following them to make sure their disease is stable, what’s going on. So, I see them regularly, and I’m their main doctor for their cancer. And then, I have patients who are maybe a little bit farther away, and I see them as part of the team.

So, they have their own oncologist in their community that they’re seeing and they come see me either virtually or in person every few months, or if something’s happening; if their myeloma’s returning or they’re having toxicity, then they reach out to me so I can talk about different ways we can change therapy. And then, the third really is for second opinions where patients don’t necessarily  want to come see me all the time but they might want to be on a clinical trial that we might have at MD Anderson. So, they come just for that trial and then they go back to their doctors again. So, we sort of do whatever works best for the patient.

Expert Advice for Newly Diagnosed Myeloma Patients

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Expert Advice for Newly Diagnosed Myeloma Patients from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Myeloma expert and researcher Dr. Krina Patel shares key advice for patients newly diagnosed with myeloma, encouraging patients to take an active role in their care.

Dr. Krina Patel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Lymphoma/Myeloma at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Dr. Patel is involved in research and cares for patients with multiple myeloma. Learn more about Dr. Patel, here.

Related Resources:

The Role of a Myeloma Specialist on Your Care Team

 Relapsed and Refractory Myeloma Defined

 Myeloma Induction and Consolidation Therapy Defined

Transcript:

Katherine:  

Myeloma can be a complex diagnosis. What are three key pieces of advice for patients who has just been diagnosed with myeloma?

Dr. Patel: 

I think any diagnosis of cancer, of course, is really hard, but multiple myeloma is so rare in the sense that people don’t know about it; that sometimes it’s the first time they’ve heard of it, when they’re diagnosed. And so, I think the biggest thing about more rare diseases in general, the best advice I could give is getting a myeloma specialist as part of your team. That doesn’t mean they have to treat you, but having them as part of your team. And we can talk about that in more detail. But the second part is really learning as much as you can and not necessarily all on the Internet.

Not everything on the Internet is correct. But really asking questions to your doctors, your nurse practitioners, your nurses, they all have different perspectives that asking questions for all of them is really worthwhile to kind of understand what you’re going through and what’s to be expected. And then, the last piece. I think with multiple myeloma patients, there are so many amazing patient support systems, especially after COVID but even before COVID, in terms of different groups that are sponsored by patients where you can listen when people come to give talks, et cetera. I think those are all phenomenal resources for patients.

Katherine: 

What do you think the role is of the patient in their own care?

Dr. Patel:     

So, gone are the days of paternalistic medicine, especially in the U.S. My job is not to tell you what to do, but my job is to really give you options as to what is the best possible therapy for you at that time. And really, your job is, as a patient, to make sure that they tell me all the information that’s important for them. So, for instance, if they can’t come to chemo every week because they just don’t have a ride or they have some other medical problems that maybe I didn’t know about, those types of things. We just have to have that open communication, so we can come to that best next therapy together with those decisions.