Tag Archive for: Follicular Lymphoma

How Is Relapsed or Transformed Follicular Lymphoma Treated?

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How Is Relapsed or Transformed Follicular Lymphoma Treated? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Follicular lymphoma (FL) expert Dr. Jane Winter explains relapsed or transformed follicular lymphoma and outlines treatment approaches for these FL types.

Dr. Jane Winter is a hematologist and medical oncologist at Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern University. More information on Dr. Winter here.

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Transcript:

Laura Beth:

Dr. Winter, what happens if a patient’s follicular lymphoma relapses? What is the approach to treatment? 

Dr. Winter:

And so, generally, it’s probably one in five patients whose disease sort of comes back and becomes somewhat problematic requiring repeated therapies where many, many patients have a very kind of indolent course that may require treatment intermittently, but tends to be very amenable to treatment. And then the other point to be made about follicular lymphoma is indeed that a fraction of patients every year will go on to what we call transform. That means their disease acquires and changes biologically or at least a clone of their disease changes and becomes a much more aggressive process similar to a newly diagnosed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, an aggressive lymphoma.  

And these transformations then require treatment as if they were an aggressive lymphoma. And they also, despite being somewhat frightening because of the sense of changing from a low-grade to a more aggressive process, in very many cases, these are well treated with standard, especially in patients who haven’t had prior therapy for follicular lymphoma, which is rituximab (Rituxan), these patients are well treated with our standard treatment for aggressive lymphoma Rituxan CHOP chemotherapy, and do very well. So, even though that sounds like a frightening occurrence, for the vast majority, it’s very treatable. 

And patients go into remission and stay in remission for the most part, so it’s not as frightening as it might sound. And how many patients and when do they transform? There’s lots of confusing data. Basically, there’s some data that suggests that the majority of patients transform early in the first five years, whereas other data suggests that it’s sort of every year, patients are at risk so that the longer you have follicular lymphoma, perhaps, the greater the risk overall of this kind of change in the biology. But, as I said, for a good significant number of patients, this is relatively easily treated with standard chemotherapy.   

Just another point in terms of potentially curative therapies these days, we’re afraid to use that term in follicular lymphoma because it does have this tendency to sort of keep coming back over time. So, whether any treatment is truly curative remains to be seen. Perhaps a very, very small fraction of patients might be eligible, young patients, for an allogeneic stem cell transplant from someone else. But, this is not commonly pursued these days, as well as a new therapy called CAR T-cell therapy, which is a form of immunotherapy and may indeed be curative.  

But at this point, it’s really too early to make a claim of cure with that strategy. But, a very exciting new immunotherapy as well as some other new immunotherapy is something called “bite cells,” which harness our own immune system, much like the CAR-T cells do. So, lots of new things. So, these are exciting times for us as treating physicians and hematologists, but they are exciting times for patients because we have so much to offer.  

An Expert’s Perspective on Emerging Follicular Lymphoma Research

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An Expert’s Perspective on Emerging Follicular Lymphoma Research from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What’s the latest on emerging follicular lymphoma research? Dr. Jane Winter shares how follicular lymphoma treatment has advanced and provides an overview of treatment options.

Dr. Jane Winter is a hematologist and medical oncologist at Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern University. More information on Dr. Winter here.

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Transcript:

Laura Beth:

Dr. Winter, is there emerging follicular lymphoma research that you are excited about?   

Dr. Winter:

So, first of all, I think it’s very important to underscore the fact that for a newly diagnosed patient with follicular lymphoma today, survival is measured in decades with an “S,” so, 10, 20-plus years. And that’s based on data that’s already becoming outdated such that it’s the likelihood with some of the newer treatment options is there’s never been a more exciting time, I often say, to be a hematologist because of all the exciting new tools we have to our trade.  

So, lots of new treatments. But, even with the old treatments, and I mean rituximab-based treatments, the outcome is excellent. We have new treatments. We have all kinds of new treatments these days for follicular lymphoma such that it’s a veritable buffet of treatment options to choose from. Nonetheless, often times the first treatment is just either a monoclonal antibody, meaning rituximab, an anti-CD20, which is a protein or marker on the surface of the lymphoma cell. This is immunotherapy, been around now for 30 years and approved for 22 years for the treatment of follicular lymphoma as well as other B-cell lymphomas.  

Other therapies that are typically used frontline include rituximab plus chemotherapy, most commonly a drug called bendamustine, which wasn’t always available, was something that was being developed in East Germany that came to the attention of the Europeans and North Americans only after German unification. And, this has become, along with Rituxan, one of the most commonly used first-line treatments for follicular lymphoma. Other options include a combination of Rituxan and an oral medication called lenalidomide (Revlimid), and this is given three weeks in a row out of every four weeks with Rituxan. Again, this anti-CD20 immunotherapy or antibody. 

And, it’s a very effective but requires some monitoring of blood counts and so on, so it is perhaps not as commonly used as Rituxan and bendamustine as a first-line therapy. But, there are so many additional new options that are either approved or coming along for all of our B-cell lymphomas, and they include many new what we call “targeted agents” as well as immunotherapy including a very new therapy called CAR T-cell therapy. But, one thing I just wanted to say, in addition to the very long anticipated survival of newly diagnosed patients today, it’s really only a small fraction of patients who get into trouble with follicular lymphoma, at least in the short term.  

When Is It Time to Treat Follicular Lymphoma?

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When Is It Time to Treat Follicular Lymphoma? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What symptoms might follicular lymphoma patients experience as a trigger for treatment? Dr. Jane Winter shares insight about common symptoms that indicate treatment should begin for optimal patient care.

Dr. Jane Winter is a hematologist and medical oncologist at Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern University. More information on Dr. Winter here.

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Transcript:

Laura Beth:

Dr. Winter, what are signs that it is time to treat a patient’s follicular lymphoma? 

Dr. Winter:

Symptoms are the trigger, most often. 

Sometimes, the trigger for treatment is a big enough mass that it’s pushing on something important, for example, the ureter, which is the tube from the kidney to the bladder. And if we have a large mass that either wraps around that ureter or just pushes on it sufficiently to block drainage, it’ll result in a decline in kidney function. So, a rising creatinine may be the signal that things are progressing and it’s time for treatment. Sometimes, the follicular lymphoma involving the lining around the lung can lead to what we call a pleural effusion, fluid in that space. It’s a potential space between the lung and the chest wall.  

So, an accumulation of fluid there restricts the ability to take a deep breath, and that may be an indication for treatment, or just the overall total mass of disease is becoming such that it results in fatigue and is beginning to impair the quality of life and what we call performance status. So, those are triggers for treatment. Decline in blood counts is another. So, follicular lymphoma very commonly involves the bone marrow, and as it progresses and replaces the normal blood cells, it will result in a decline in the red cell count, the hemoglobin that carries oxygen. So, it results in tiredness or shortness of breath, or a low white count such that the numbers of infection fighting cells is compromised.  

Or also at the same time, often the platelet count. And platelets are those little flecks in the blood smear that help to clot blood and prevent bleeding. And so, as they decline, we sometimes see little red spots called petechiae on the lower extremities. But, that’s a pretty uncommon sign in follicular lymphoma. Most often, it would be just a mild anemia that flags progression and bone marrow involvement. So, all of those. So, multi-disease, disease that causes symptoms, disease that causes fluid accumulation around the lung or obstruction of some important organ. 

These are all the signs that it’s time to think about treatment. 

How Is Follicular Lymphoma Diagnosed and How Does It Progress?

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How Is Follicular Lymphoma Diagnosed and How Does It Progress? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Follicular lymphoma expert Dr. Jane Winter explains common symptoms, tests involved in diagnosis, and how the disease may progress over time.

Dr. Jane Winter is a hematologist and medical oncologist at Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern University. More information on Dr. Winter here.

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Transcript:

Laura Beth:

Dr. Winter, how is follicular lymphoma typically diagnosed? 

Dr. Winter:

So, most often, it’s because of a new lump or bump that a patient notes, perhaps a lump in the neck, but also increasingly these days, many individuals wind up getting CT scans. Belly pain for which they go to the emergency room or something to evaluate another diagnosis, maybe some blood in the urine related to a totally different issue. But CT scans often reveal, enlarged lymph nodes or lymph nodes that are borderline and of concern. 

And this will lead to investigation, ultimately, a biopsy, and a diagnosis of follicular lymphoma.  

Laura Beth:

How does follicular lymphoma typically progress?  

Dr. Winter:

So, to start with, most commonly, patients have low burden disease these days, but some adverse diagnosis will have very extensive disease, a big mass in the abdomen, disease in the chest, so, highly variable. For patients who begin with low burden disease, small lymph nodes that are not bothersome, we generally observe these patients. 

And over time, these lymph nodes may begin to grow, and sometimes slowly, sometimes more rapidly to the point where they cause symptoms or are of concern because they’re cosmetically unattractive. There are occasional times where it’s a lump in the neck that just results in too many inquiries from others. So, that’s when we start thinking about maybe it’s time to start some treatment. So, progression, enlargement, sometimes it’ll be the beginning of symptoms. So, most patients with follicular lymphoma, at least in North America, don’t generally have symptoms at presentation, but B symptoms.  

So, fevers, drenching night sweats, and by that, I mean sweats at night that lead to changing your T-shirt, changing the sheets or the nightgown, not the typical middle-aged woman with a hot flash. But, by drenching night sweats, we mean drenching. Unintentional weight loss. So, these are some of the symptoms that one can see, we call them B symptoms, we can see in patients with follicular lymphoma and other lymphomas as well that may signal progression. 

The Pro-Active Follicular Lymphoma Patient Toolkit Resource Guide

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What Do You Need to Know About Follicular Lymphoma?

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What Do You Need to Know About Follicular Lymphoma? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What should you and your loved ones know after a follicular lymphoma diagnosis? This animated video provides an overview of follicular lymphoma, current treatment options, and important steps for engaging in your care.

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Transcript:

What do you need to know if you or a loved one has been diagnosed with follicular lymphoma? 

Follicular lymphoma is a type of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. It is typically slow-growing and can begin in the lymph nodes, bone marrow, or other organs. The disease does not always cause symptoms. But if symptoms are present, they can include swollen lymph nodes, fever, unintentional weight loss, and night sweats.  

Follicular lymphoma is classified as “low grade” if the disease is slow-growing, or “high grade,” if the disease is more aggressive and growing more rapidly. 

Follicular lymphoma is staged to understand where the lymphoma is in the body and to help determine which treatment options are best. There are four stages – 

  • Stage I, in which the lymphoma is localized in one single lymph node area or one non-lymph node site. When there is a non-lymph node site involved, an “E” is added to the stage, meaning “extra nodal.” 
  • In stage II, the lymphoma is in two or more areas on one side of the diaphragm. Again, “E” designation means that there is a non-lymph node site involved. 
  • Stage III means the lymphoma is in two or more lymph node areas above and below the diaphragm. 
  • And finally, stage IV is when the lymphoma is widespread, with involvement above and below the diaphragm, including at least one non-lymph node site. 

Unlike in many other types of tumors, stage IV follicular lymphoma is often very treatable, because lymphomas tend to be sensitive to many different therapies. 

Treatment recommendations are based on a variety of factors, including: 

  • Disease stage 
  • Tumor size and tumor grade 
  • Disease symptoms 
  • And a patient’s age and overall health 

For some patients, treatment doesn’t begin right away, and an approach called “watchful waiting,” “observation,” or “active surveillance” is used to monitor the progression of the disease. This usually involves regular oncology clinic visits and lab checks – and sometimes repeat imaging scans. 

When it is time to treat, options may include: 

  • Radiation therapy 
  • Chemotherapy 
  • Targeted therapy 
  • Immunotherapy 
  • Or cellular therapy, such as CAR T-cell therapy or a bone marrow transplant.
  • Your physician may also recommend clinical trial options. 

Now that you understand more about follicular lymphoma, how can you take an active role in your care?  

  • First, continue to educate yourself about your condition. Ask your healthcare team to recommend credible resources of information.  
  • Next, understand the goals of treatment and speak up about your personal preferences.
  • Consider a second opinion or a consult with a specialist following a diagnosis to confirm your treatment approach.
  • And, write down your questions before and during your appointments. Visit powerfulpatients.org/FL to access office visit planners to help you organize your thoughts. Bring loved ones to your appointments to help you recall information and to keep track of important details.
  • Ask your doctor whether a clinical trial might be right for you.
  • Finally, remember that you have a voice in your care. Don’t hesitate to ask questions and to share your concerns. You are your own best advocate. 

To learn more about follicular lymphoma and to access tools for self-advocacy, visit powerfulpatients.org/Follicular. 

What Do Patients Need to Know About DLBCL and COVID Vaccines?

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What Do Patients Need to Know About DLBCL and COVID Vaccines? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

DLBCL treatment can lower a patient’s immunity. Dr. Kami Maddocks explains current options to help patients protect themselves from COVID and other viruses.

Dr. Kami Maddocks is a hematologist who specializes in treating patients with B-cell malignancies at the The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – The James. Learn more about Dr. Maddocks.

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Transcript:

Katherine:

Do you recommend that patients continue getting vaccines? For COVID, for flu?  

Dr. Maddocks:

Yes. So, particularly, when you look at lymphomas, this is a cancer of the immune system. The cancer can make your immune system compromise the treatment. While you’re getting treated makes your immune system compromised. And even for a period after treatment, your immune system can be compromised. So, it’s important to protect yourselves against infection. Sometimes the efficacy of vaccines in the middle of treatment might not be as good as not being on treatment.  

But that said, there’s no data that the vaccines are harmful. You do have to be careful about live vaccines when you’re under treatment, and you should ask your doctor about not the typical vaccines, of course. But I think that it’s very important to take every step that patients can, to try to prevent themselves from battling something in addition to them already undergoing treatments, their body’s already going through a lot.  

And so, anything that we can do or they can do to help prevent them from dealing with more than they already are, I think is important.  

A DLBCL Expert Debunks Common Patient Misconceptions

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A DLBCL Expert Debunks Common Patient Misconceptions from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Dr. Kami Maddocks responds to common diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patient questions and misconceptions. Dr. Maddocks encourages patients to feel empowered in their care so they can partner with their healthcare team. 

Dr. Kami Maddocks is a hematologist who specializes in treating patients with B-cell malignancies at the The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – The James. Learn more about Dr. Maddocks.

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Transcript:

Katherine:

It’s not always easy for patients to speak up. So, I’d like to debunk some common misconceptions that patients have, that may be holding them back. First one is, “I’m bothering my doctor with all my questions.” Is that true?  

Dr. Maddocks:

That is not true at all. So, the best thing is an informed patient. So, I want to answer all their questions. “What is the disease or diagnosis?” “What are the treatment options?” “What do we know now?” “What are we learning?” I need to know what’s going on. I always tell my patients that I can’t help them with what I don’t know. So, if somebody shows up, they get once cycle of treatment and they show up for a second cycle and they’ve had all these problems and never called or notified me, first of all, we weren’t able to help them. There’s a lot of things we can do to help them and if we don’t know what’s going on, we can’t help.  

And second, that might impact that second treatment, whereas knowing and knowing that sooner, we can plan to make changes.  

Katherine:

Yeah. That’s really good advice. Here’s another one. “My doctor’s feelings will get hurt if I get a second opinion.”  

Dr. Maddocks:

Not at all. So, I always encourage patients that they should get a second opinion, third opinion, whatever they need. Number one, I think it’s important that a patient feels comfortable with their diagnosis and their treatment plan, because I really think that things go better if they understand that and they’re comfortable. If they’re always doubting what’s going on, it’s really hard to develop that trusting relationship. And I think it’s very important that a patient has a trusting relationship with their care team.  

I think most of the time, when you get a second opinion, you’re probably going to hear or get the same advice. And so, that helps a patient to feel comfortable. Sometimes, there may be clinical trials out there that your doctor didn’t know about, that are options, and a doctor’s always going to be happy if there’s something out there available, that might make the patient outcome better, that they didn’t know about.   

And lastly, I would say there are a lot of doctors who treat all types of cancer, and there are some doctors that specialize in certain types of cancer. And so, if you were seeing a doctor who treats multiple different kinds, but want to see a doctor who specializes in a particular kind, they may be aware of a recent trial or a recent development that your doctor doesn’t know. Not because there’s anything wrong with that doctor, it’s just that there is so much data to keep up with these days, in cancer, that a specialist might be able to provide a point of view that somebody else doesn’t know.  

Katherine:

Yeah. Another question or comment is, “There isn’t anything that could be done about my symptoms or treatment side effects. So, why should I even say anything?”  

Dr. Maddocks:

Yeah. That’s a great question but the thing is, a lot of times there are things. So, the one thing is, some of the treatments we use for some of our cancers, including lymphoma, have been around for a really long time. But some of the things that have changed, are our supportive care or our ability to treat patient side effects. So, I think that it’s always important that patients let us know if they’re having side effects because maybe nausea – so, we give medication to prevent that.  

Usually, I send patients home with two different types of nausea medication. But if that’s not helping, I have more than two in my toolbox, I just don’t know to prescribe them if the typical things aren’t helping. So, a lot of times, there are things that we can do. Sometimes you have to tweak the dosing of the chemo, but really, the only way you can help with symptom management is if you know somebody’s having symptoms.  

Katherine:

Right. So, when somebody starts to have side effects from the treatment, should they contact their care team right away?  

Dr. Maddocks:

Yes. They should contact their care team right away. There are certain side effects, like having a fever during chemo, where they really need to go to the emergency room to be evaluated, to make sure it’s nothing. Because an infection can be very serious when you’re getting chemotherapy. Other side effects that are less emergent but, yes. Most of the time there’s a patient number that patients can call, where they can seek, like a nurse help line, where they can seek assistance, and that call can be escalated depending on the symptoms and what needs to be helped.  

But I think, again, it’s important that we know what’s going on so we can help patients. And then, if something needs to be further investigated – because occasionally there will be something that’ll make us think, “Oh, we really need to evaluate this patient because what if it’s more than what it seems?”   

Katherine:

Right. Are there any other misconceptions that you hear about from patients?  

Dr. Maddocks:

I think, just in general, thinking about the patient taking care of themselves. So, a lot of times there can be resources that patients have questions on. Things like exercise. Things like nutrition. Things in the environment that they can be exposed to. Just different things. I think it’s always important that you ask your care team if there’s any question, because they’re going to best be able to tell you versus just assuming something.  

There’s a lot of good information that patients can get from educational sites. There’s a lot of good information on the internet but there’s also a lot of bad information, or inaccurate information on the internet. So, I think it’s great for patients to use resources and educate themselves but I think that it’s always good to confirm with your care team. Myths versus facts.  

What You Should Know About DLBCL Treatment Side Effects

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What You Should Know About DLBCL Treatment Side Effects from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Once a patient begins diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) treatment, what side effects could they experience? Dr. Kami Maddocks, reviews potential side effects and how they may be managed.

Dr. Kami Maddocks is a hematologist who specializes in treating patients with B-cell malignancies at the The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – The James. Learn more about Dr. Maddocks.

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Transcript:

Katherine:

What are the side effects that patients can expect with these treatments?  

Dr. Maddocks:

So, when they get the treatment, on the day they get it, there can be an infusion reaction to the rituximab or antibody therapies. So, the first treatment, that treatment is given very slowly and titrated up. If patients have a reaction, we stop it, treat the reaction, and then they’re able to continue therapy but again, that first day, it can take several hours for that one antibody to get in. And then, later, therapies are given at a more rapid pace.   

So, about 70 percent of people who react, it can be really almost anything. Some people get flushing, some people will get a fever, some people –have shortness of breath or their heart rate will go up. 

Katherine:

Okay. All right. Any other side effects? 

Dr. Maddocks:

Yeah. So then chemotherapy is meant to kill cells during the cell cycle. So, cancer cells divide more rapidly, chemotherapy is targeting them, but it also effects good cells in the body, specifically those that divide at a more rapid pace. The biggest risk of chemotherapy is infection.  

So, it effects the good white blood cells that fight infections. It can affect your red cells that carry your iron, gives you your energy. Or your platelets which help you to clot or not bleed when you get caught. So, infection is the biggest risk of chemotherapy. So, usually, with this regimen, that infectious risk is highest within the second week of treatment, that treatment is given every three weeks.  

So, we tell patients they should buy a thermometer, check their temperature, they have to notify their doctor or go to the ER if they have a fever. Besides infection, there’s a small percentage of patients who might need a transfusion. GI toxicity. So, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, mouth sores, constipation, all of which we have good treatments for. So, we give medication before chemo to try to prevent people from getting sick and then give them medicine to go home with, if they have any nausea. We can alter those medications as time goes on, if they’re having any problems. So, we just need to know about it. Most patients will lose their hair with this regimen.  

It can affect people’s tastes, it can make their skin more sensitive to the sun, and then, less common but potential side effects are it can cause damage to the nerves. Or something we call neuropathy, which most often patients will start with getting numbness or tingling in their fingers and toes, and we can dose adjust if that’s causing some problems.  

And then, there’s a risk to the heart with one of the drugs. So, the heart should pump like this. The heart pump function can go down. So, we always check a patient’s heart pump function before they get their chemo, to make sure that they’re not at higher risk for that to happen.  

Katherine:

So, all of these approaches are used in initial treatment?  

Dr. Maddocks:

Mm-hmm. 

Katherine:

Okay. 

What Are Common Symptoms of DLBCL?

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What Are Common Symptoms of DLBCL? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What symptoms could diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL)patients experience? Dr. Kami Maddocks defines DLBCL and explains the diagnosis, symptoms, sub-types and progression of the disease.

Dr. Kami Maddocks is a hematologist who specializes in treating patients with B-cell malignancies at the The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – The James. Learn more about Dr. Maddocks.

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Transcript:

Katherine:

Now, let’s learn more about DLBCL. For those who may be newly diagnosed, what is it?  

Dr. Maddocks:

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is a type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. So, this is considered a blood cancer. Lymphomas are a cancer of the lymphocyte, which is one of the types of blood cells that form your immune system. So, when you think about your nodes, these are part of the cells that help fight different types of infection. So, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is one of the types of non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas, it’s aggressive, and it is considered an aggressive form of lymphoma. And it’s when you get a cancer of those lymph cells that often involved the lymph nodes but could also involve bone marrow, blood cells, other sites outside of the lymph nodes.  

Katherine:

Do we know what causes DLBCL?  

Dr. Maddocks:

For the most part, we don’t know what causes diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. So, most of the time, it’s going to arise with patients not having risk factors. We know that age is the most common risk factor with the median diagnosis of a patient in their 60s.  

Although, we also know that diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, why it’s more common to be diagnosed later in life, can occur across all the age spectrum. So, you see this in pediatric adolescents, young adults, and older adults. There are some causes. These represent more than minority of cases but certain viruses, including HIV virus, can be associated with the development of lymphoma. Certain other medical conditions, like rheumatologic conditions and some of the treatments for these, can be associated, and then, some chemical exposures. But in general, most of the time, we’re not going to have an identified cause.  

Katherine:

What are the symptoms?  

Dr. Maddocks:

They can look a little bit different for different patients. So, because this is often a cancer, most of the time there will be lymph node involvement. For some patients, they can actually feel or somebody will see a lymph node that grows. Most of the time, when this occurs, it’s going to be in the neck, under the armpits, or in the groin area.  

Patients can start to have symptoms from other sites, of those lymph nodes growing or disease so that they can get pain or shortness of breath. Or they can have what’s called B symptoms. So, B symptoms are inflammatory like symptoms from the lymphoma, and these include weight loss. So, a rapid change in weight for no reason. Night sweats. So, daily night sweats, we call them drenching night sweats. They wake up the patient, they soak their clothes, sometimes they soak the whole bed. And then, fatigue. So, extreme fatigue, not able to do your daily activities. And then, occasional people will have cyclical fevers.  

Katherine:

Are there different types of DLBCL?  

Dr. Maddocks:

So, in general, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, there’s one major subtype. You can divide it into different pathological or molecular subtypes.   

So, where the cell develops lymphoma during the cell’s development, there are different chromosome abnormalities. So, there are different categorizations but in general, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma itself is considered – it’s treated, often, the same even with these different subtypes. So, there are different subtypes but in general, they’re all considered a form of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.   

Katherine:

They’re under this umbrella of DLBCL.  

Dr. Maddocks:

Yeah. Yeah.   

Katherine:

Yeah.

Do patients usually get diagnosed after they experience some symptoms?  

Dr. Maddocks:

So, because this is an aggressive lymphoma, there are a lot of patients that will have symptoms with this, and that’s how they’ll present via either noticing the lymph nodes, having the B symptoms, or having pain, or other abnormalities from the lymphoma progressing.   

Occasionally, whereas indolent lymphoma is more commonly found of incidentally. Occasionally, that’ll be the case with these, but I would say a fair number of patients have some sort of symptom or something that brings them to medical attention.  

Katherine:

How does DLBCL progress?  

Dr. Maddocks:

So, they’re different, as far as there’s more aggressive and less aggressive. So, some patients can develop symptoms, really, over days to weeks. Whereas, some patients are more weeks to months.  

Emerging DLBCL Treatments That Patients Should Know About

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Emerging DLBCL Treatments That Patients Should Know About from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Are there new diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) treatment options? Dr. Kami Maddocks reviews developing research and approaches and what these advances could mean for patients.

Dr. Kami Maddocks is a hematologist who specializes in treating patients with B-cell malignancies at the The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – The James. Learn more about Dr. Maddocks.

See More From The Pro-Active DLBCL Patient Toolkit

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Transcript:

Katherine:

Have there been any recent developments in how DLBCL is treated?  

Dr. Maddocks:

There had been recent developments. So, the CAR T-cell therapy, there is now three approved options for patients. And so, even patients who maybe are older and not considered candidates for a stem cell transplant because of other medical factors, might be able to get the CAR T-cell therapy. This is now, again, approved in the second line. There are a couple antibody drug conjugates, polatuzumab and loncastuximab, they target proteins called CD-79 and CD-19.  

And the polatuzumab’s the one that probably is going to be available for part of the front-line treatment in the future. There’s the antibody tafasitamab and lenalidomide. These are all approved therapies in the relapse setting. There are also therapies that are being studied and showing promising activity, which we think are probably likely to be approved in the future. There’s something particularly called bi-specific antibodies.  

So, this targets a protein on the tumor cell but also a protein on the T cell. So, remember I said the T cells aren’t functioning. So, this targets the protein on the lymphoma cell but then targets a protein on the T cell to engage it to attack the lymphoma cell. 

Katherine:

Right. Combination approaches?   

Dr. Maddocks:

Yeah. So, there are a number of combination approaches under study a lot of the therapies that I mentioned, like the bi-specific antibodies, the antibody drug conjugates. These are all therapies that – they have side effects – I hate to say they’re well-tolerated – they have side effects but their side effects are such that they can be combined with other agents, that have different toxicities that are combined with each other. And so, there’s a lot of ongoing trials looking at combining these. There’re also oral targeted therapies that target proteins that are known to help the lymphoma cells survive and these are modulator therapies, BTK inhibitors, other inhibitors, that are being evaluated and used in combinations.  

Katherine:

Thanks, Dr. Maddocks. That’s really helpful information. 

Is My DLBCL Treatment Working? What Happens If It Doesn’t Work?

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Is My DLBCL Treatment Working? What Happens If It Doesn’t Work? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) expert Dr. Kami Maddocks describes how a treatment’s effectiveness is evaluated and reviews the options available for refractory patients.

Dr. Kami Maddocks is a hematologist who specializes in treating patients with B-cell malignancies at the The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – The James. Learn more about Dr. Maddocks.

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Transcript:

Katherine:

So, how do you know if a treatment is working?  

Dr. Maddocks:

So, as far as evaluating treatment, you get a scan before you start treatments, so we know where all the lymphoma is at. And then, typically, you get some sort of scan in the middle of treatment, and then after, you complete your six cycles of treatment. Or for early stages, sometimes patients will get less than six cycles. So, we get scans to make sure it’s working. So, you can tell by those things, how much has gone, hopefully all of it has gone by the end. Occasionally, patients that had a lot of symptoms to start with, their symptoms will go away, and then they’ll start coming back.  

This is less common, because the majority of patients do respond to chemotherapy. It’s less common to get patients who are what is called refractory, meaning they don’t get any response to therapy. So, occasionally they’ll note symptoms but a lot of times, we’ll see something on that mid-therapy or end of therapy scan, if it’s not going to make it all go away.  

Katherine:

So, if a treatment doesn’t work, what happens then?  

Dr. Maddocks:

If treatment doesn’t work, it depends a little bit – and now it depends a little bit on the timing of that treatment not working. So, it used to be that patients who were eligible for treatment, no matter if it didn’t work right away or if it put them into what we call a remission, so there’s no evidence of disease and then it relapsed, they would have the option of further chemotherapy and then an autologous stem cell transplant. So, a bone marrow transplant where they donate their own cells.  

If they were in a good enough health or if they were not – to do that, you have to donate your own bone marrow cells and as we age, we make less bone marrow cells. So, once you reach a certain age, your body can’t produce enough cells to donate to a transplant. In those patients, we offer them less aggressive chemo options, which were not known to be curable but could put them into remission again, for a while. More recently, there has been some that chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy that I mentioned where you actually donate your own T cells. So that’s –. And your lymphoma is of your B cells.  

Your T cells are in another immune cell that should recognize that lymphoma is bad and attack it, and they’re not functioning properly. So, you donate your own T cells, and they’re sent off and reengineered to target a protein on the tumor. Then, you get those cells back, and they’re meant to target the lymphoma and kill the lymphoma cells.  

So, that is now an approved therapy for patients who don’t achieve the remission – so, who’s first chemo doesn’t work or if they relapse within a year of completing chemo. So, that’s a possibility. The chemo and transplants a possibility. Or there’s other approved therapies now, that can be given as second options or third or later options, which have been shown to keep patients in remission for a while.  

Katherine:

Dr. Maddocks, you touched up on this a moment ago, but what are the approaches if a patient relapses? What do you do?   

Dr. Maddocks:

So, you would rework them up if they relapsed. Similar to that, if they relapse within a year and they have access to the CAR-T and they’re healthy for that, then that’ll be an option. The second type of chemotherapy in the transplant. So, you can’t just go straight to a transplant. You have to get a different type of chemotherapy to try to get the disease under control again, before you would go to a transplant.  

Or there’s a number of other targeted therapies that are approved. So, there’s other – I talked about rituximab (Rituxan) is given in the first line, that targets a CD-20 protein, there’s an antibody that targets a CD-19 protein that’s given out in relapse. There’s another antibody drug – there’s actually two antibody drug conjugates. So, an antibody that targets the protein on the cells that are attached to a chemo, that’s given. Or there’s different chemotherapy and then even some oral therapies.  

Katherine:

Okay. So, there’s a lot of different options available for people.  

Dr. Maddocks:

Correct. And there’s always clinical trials. So, there’s always the option to find something where we’re studying some of these newer therapies. They’re therapies in combination.  

Understanding DLBCL Treatment Classes

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Dr. Kami Maddocks reviews diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) treatment approaches, including options for patients who are considered high-risk or who have relapsed. Dr. Maddocks goes on to review which factors are considered when selecting a therapy and the potential for curative treatment.

Dr. Kami Maddocks is a hematologist who specializes in treating patients with B-cell malignancies at the The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – The James. Learn more about Dr. Maddocks.

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Transcript:

Katherine:

Let’s turn to treatment options. Is a person with DLBCL treated right away?  

Dr. Maddocks:

They’re treated pretty quickly after the diagnosis. So, typically, when somebody has a diagnosis, they undergo a number of different tests, including lab work, imaging work, sometimes for their biopsies.  

So, that information is gathered over days to sometimes a few weeks process. Then, when you have all that information, you go over the results, go over the treatment at that time. So, it’s typically treated not within, usually, a day of diagnosis but it’s not something that you spend weeks or months before treating.  

Katherine:

Yeah. What are the different types of treatments available?  

Dr. Maddocks:

So, the diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is treated with chemotherapy and immunotherapy. So, a combination of an immune antibody therapy and chemotherapy. There is a role in some cases for radiation, but never just radiation alone and never just surgery alone. So, there’s always what we call a systemic treatment so, a treatment that goes everywhere. Because this is considered a blood cancer, it’s a cancer of those cells, it can really spread anywhere.  

And so, just cutting it out with surgery or just radiating the area doesn’t treat everything, even if you can’t identify it.  

Katherine:

Can you get specific about some of the treatment classes?   

Dr. Maddocks:

Yeah. So, the most common treatment for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is a chemo immunotherapy called R-CHOP. So, this is three chemotherapies and antibody therapy that’s direct called rituximab (Rituxan) that’s directed at a protein on the lymphoma cells. And then, a steroid called prednisone, given with the chemo and then for a few days after. There was a study that recently showed an improvement with switching one of those drugs with another immunotherapy that’s an antibody conjugated to a chemo drug. But that’s not yet been approved. There are clinical trials available. So, looking at these treatments that might be new or combining therapies with this standard treatment.  

And then, very occasionally, there are certain features of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. There are particular few different subtypes that are classified a little bit differently, that are treated within an infusional therapy called Dose Adjusted R-EPOCH.  

Katherine:

What about stem cell therapy? Is that used?  

Dr. Maddock:

Stem cell therapy is used in the relapse setting. So, if a patient doesn’t go into a remission or if they relapse after achieving a remission with their chemotherapy, then stem cell transplant is an option. So, there are actually two different types of stem cell transplant. One from yourself and one from somebody else. In lymphoma, we typically do one from yourself, where you donate your own cell before. But we don’t use that as part of the initial treatment.   

Katherine:

So, if somebody is high risk, Dr. Maddocks, is the approach different for them? 

Dr. Maddocks:

So, it depends. We define high risk in different ways. So, there’s a specific type of lymphoma called double hit lymphoma, where there’s a few chromosomal translocations associated with the lymphoma, that we give a little more aggressive chemo immunotherapy regimen. There are also other subtypes, including a rare type of lymphoma called primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma. Again, categorized a little bit different but sometimes included as a large cell lymphoma. We also give that treatment for.   

Katherine:

Okay. So, there’s a lot of different options available for people.  

Dr. Maddocks:

Correct. And there’s always clinical trials. So, there’s always the option to find something where we’re studying some of these newer therapies. They’re therapies in combination.   

Katherine:

Is a cure possible?  

Dr. Maddocks:

Yes. A cure is possible. When you look at patients who are treated with initial chemotherapy, we cure somewhere between 60 percent to 70 percent of patients with the initial chemotherapy. If patients’ relapse, depending on their age and their condition, they’re candidates for other therapies.  

And therapy including other chemo and stem cell transplant is potentially curable in some patients. And then, there’s a newer therapy called chimeric antigen receptor T-cell, or CAR T-cell therapy, which also looks like it’s curing a subset of patients who relapse or don’t respond to initial therapy.  

What Is the Patient’s Role in Their DLBCL Care?

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What Is the Patient’s Role in Their DLBCL Care? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

How can patients engage in their DLBCL care? Expert Dr. Kami Maddocks explains how disease-specific education empowers patients, and stresses the importance of patients playing an active role in decisions.

Dr. Kami Maddocks is a hematologist who specializes in treating patients with B-cell malignancies at the The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – The James. Learn more about Dr. Maddocks.

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Transcript:

Katherine:

Now, let’s learn more about DLBCL. For those who may be newly diagnosed, what is it?  

Dr. Maddocks:

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is a type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. So, this is considered a blood cancer. Lymphomas are a cancer of the lymphocyte, which is one of the types of blood cells that form your immune system. So, when you think about your nodes, these are part of the cells that help fight different types of infection. So, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is one of the types of non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas, it’s aggressive, and it is considered an aggressive form of lymphoma. And it’s when you get a cancer of those lymph cells that often involved the lymph nodes but could also involve bone marrow, blood cells, other sites outside of the lymph nodes.  

Katherine:

Do we know what causes DLBCL?   

Dr. Maddocks:

For the most part, we don’t know what causes diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. So, most of the time, it’s going to arise with patients not having risk factors. We know that age is the most common risk factor with the median diagnosis of a patient in their 60s.  

Although, we also know that diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, why it’s more common to be diagnosed later in life, can occur across all the age spectrum. So, you see this in pediatric adolescents, young adults, and older adults. There are some causes. These represent more than minority of cases but certain viruses, including HIV virus, can be associated with the development of lymphoma. Certain other medical conditions, like rheumatologic conditions and some of the treatments for these, can be associated, and then, some chemical exposures. But in general, most of the time, we’re not going to have an identified cause.  

Katherine:

What are the symptoms?  

Dr. Maddocks:

They can look a little bit different for different patients. So, because this is often a cancer, most of the time there will be lymph node involvement. For some patients, they can actually feel or somebody will see a lymph node that grows. Most of the time, when this occurs, it’s going to be in the neck, under the armpits, or in the groin area.  

Patients can start to have symptoms from other sites, of those lymph nodes growing or disease so that they can get pain or shortness of breath. Or they can have what’s called B symptoms. So, B symptoms are inflammatory like symptoms from the lymphoma, and these include weight loss. So, a rapid change in weight for no reason. Night sweats. So, daily night sweats, we call them drenching night sweats. They wake up the patient, they soak their clothes, sometimes they soak the whole bed. And then, fatigue. So, extreme fatigue, not able to do your daily activities. And then, occasional people will have cyclical fevers.  

Katherine:

Are there different types of DLBCL?  

Dr. Maddocks:

So, in general, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, there’s one major subtype. You can divide it into different pathological or molecular subtypes.  

So, where the cell develops lymphoma during the cell’s development, there are different chromosome abnormalities. So, there are different categorizations but in general, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma itself is considered – it’s treated, often, the same even with these different subtypes. So, there are different subtypes but in general, they’re all considered a form of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.  

Katherine:

They’re under this umbrella of DLBCL.  

Dr. Maddocks:

Yeah. Yeah.  

Katherine:

Yeah. Do patients usually get diagnosed after they experience some symptoms?  

Dr. Maddocks:

So, because this is an aggressive lymphoma, there are a lot of patients that will have symptoms with this, and that’s how they’ll present via either noticing the lymph nodes, having the B symptoms, or having pain, or other abnormalities from the lymphoma progressing.  

Occasionally, whereas indolent lymphoma is more commonly found of incidentally. Occasionally, that’ll be the case with these, but I would say a fair number of patients have some sort of symptom or something that brings them to medical attention.  

Katherine:

How does DLBCL progress?  

Dr. Maddocks:

So, they’re different, as far as there’s more aggressive and less aggressive. So, some patients can develop symptoms, really, over days to weeks. Whereas, some patients are more weeks to months.  

Follicular Lymphoma Research and Treatment Updates

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Dr. Matthew Matasar shares follicular lymphoma treatment and research highlights from the 2022 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting.

Dr. Matthew Matasar is a lymphoma expert at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Chief of Medical Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Bergen. To learn more about Dr. Matasar, visit here.

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Emerging Follicular Lymphoma Treatment Approaches

Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

Cancer researchers recently came together to share findings at the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting also known as ASCO. Are there highlights from the meeting that follicular patients need to know about? 

Dr. Matasar:

The pace of innovation in follicular lymphoma is absolutely breathtaking. And the treatment options that are being explored and coming available to us now are really extraordinary. And they’re extraordinary because they offer this unparalleled possibility of very highly effective and less toxic, fewer less long-term and short-term side effects than prior options may have afforded us.  

This is particularly true in two general areas of investigation. The first is what we call immunotherapy or treatments that are designed to leverage your own immune system’s ability to kill cancer cells. And the second is what we would call targeted therapies, treatments that are designed to attack a specific enzyme, or protein, or pathway that is relied upon by follicular lymphoma cells to survive and to grow.  

Immunotherapy for follicular lymphoma is perhaps the most exciting of everything right now. And there’s a class of agents that are called bispecific antibodies. These are antibodies or proteins that have two specific regions on them, one that binds onto the surface of the follicular lymphoma cell and one that serves as sort of an activator or tractor beam for your own body’s healthy T cells. So, it attaches to the B cell. It drags over and stimulates T cells, and says, “Get them, guys.” And it causes your own body’s T cells to recognize, attack, and kill lymphoma cells for you.  

There’s a number of these agents that are in active clinical development. And we say updates at ASCO this year showing that these agents are very effective at treating follicular lymphoma even when prior chemotherapy agents have been unsuccessful at achieving durable remissions with really very little toxicity particularly after the first month of treatment is under your belt.  

Katherine Banwell:

What are you excited about when it comes to follicular lymphoma research? 

Dr. Matasar:

What I’m excited about is the overall pace of innovation. We have more drugs that are approved in the treatment of this illness in the last five years than in the 20 years that preceded it. And we have more options that we expect to become available over these next three years than were approved in the last five, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, therapies that modified the genetic signatures of the cells, treatments that used living cells and genetically modified those cells to attack your lymphoma, combinations of immunotherapies and targeted therapies.   

The innovation is really extraordinary, and it gives me tremendous hope that over these upcoming years, I’m going to have even more choices to offer my patients with follicular lymphoma, ways to improve their quality of life, the length of their life, and to find better ways to manage this illness.  

Katherine Banwell:

That sounds so promising.