Tag Archive for: imaging tests

Collaborate | How Is CLL Treated?

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Collaborate | How Is CLL Treated? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

.What are the common chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) treatment approaches? This animated video reviews treatment types, essential testing, and provides guidance for engaging in treatment planning.

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How to Make Confident and Informed CLL Treatment DecisionsHow to Make Confident and Informed CLL Treatment Decisions Collaborate | Understanding Your Role in Your CLL Care

Collaborate | Understanding Your Role in Your CLL Care

 Collaborate | Understanding YOUR CLL Diagnosis

Collaborate | Understanding Your CLL Diagnosis

Transcript:  

Dr. Johnson: 

Hello again! I’m Dr. Johnson, here with another video in the CLL Collaborate series from the Patient Empowerment Network. In this video, we’re going to review the common types of CLL treatment. 

Joseph: 

And I’m Joseph, Dr. Johnson’s patient. Welcome back! 

When I was first diagnosed, Dr. Johnson told me that my CLL wasn’t yet ready to be treated and that I was in the watch-and-wait period. I was surprised by this information—it felt strange to be diagnosed with cancer and to not move forward with treatment immediately. 

Dr. Johnson, can you please explain this approach? 

Dr. Johnson: 

I would be happy to. Since CLL may grow slowly in some patients, instead of starting treatment right away, the patient’s healthcare team will monitor the disease with regular appointments and blood work.  

And as Joseph mentioned, this is called watch and wait.  

Joseph: 

Right. And some patients may never need treatment while others may start therapy later.  Dr. Johnson, what are some of the reasons that treatment would begin? 

Dr. Johnson: 

Anyone with a CLL diagnosis should be monitored closely, but an increase in a patient’s symptoms, anemia, or low platelet counts could indicate that it’s time to treat the CLL.  

Additionally, some patients may have a faster growing type of CLL that requires treatment upon diagnosis.  

Joseph: 

And when it was time for my treatment to begin, I remember we reviewed my options together, along with the goals of treatment and potential side effects.  

Dr. Johnson: 

Yes! It’s always important to set treatment goals with your doctor. Treatment goals vary by patient and help determine what is best for your unique CLL and your lifestyle.  

You should also have all essential testing prior to choosing an approach. Test results can help guide decisions and may show whether a particular treatment could be more effective for an individual patient. 

OK, let’s walk through the most common types of treatment: 

  • There is an approach commonly called F-C-R, which is two chemotherapy drugs that are combined with a targeted treatment called a monoclonal antibody.  
  • Additionally, there are several other drug therapy classes currently approved to treat CLL. They include: 
  • Immunotherapy, including monoclonal antibodies 
  • And targeted therapies 
  • If the CLL isn’t responding to chemotherapy or targeted therapy, your doctor may discuss options like stem cell transplant, CAR T-cell therapy, or a clinical trial. 

Joseph: 

When it was time to treat my CLL, Dr. Johnson helped me understand what was available for me.  So, how can you feel confident when considering your treatment options? 

  • First, consider consulting with a CLL specialist who is well-versed in ALL available treatment approaches, including clinical trials. 
  • Set treatment goals with your team and ask questions if you are confused about the proposed plan. 
  • Ask if you have had all essential testing and discuss how results may impact your treatment options. 
  • Finally, request educational resources to learn more about each approach on your own. Watching videos like this is a great start! And, you can visit powerfulpatients.org/CLL for more resources. 

Dr. Johnson: 

Great advice, Joseph! You should also bring a friend or loved one to your appointments, so you can absorb the details and take notes as a team.  

Joseph: 

Thanks for joining us! Don’t forget to download the guide that goes with this video—it can help you retain what we’ve covered. 

Collaborate | Collaborate | How Is CLL Treated? Resource Guide

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Collaborate | Understanding YOUR CLL Diagnosis Resource Guide

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Collaborate | Understanding YOUR CLL Diagnosis

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Collaborate | Understanding YOUR CLL Diagnosis from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What do chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients need to know about their diagnosis? This animated video explains what CLL is, how it is diagnosed, and provides advice for being proactive in care decisions.

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Who Is on a CLL Patient's Care Team

Who Is on a Patient’s CLL Care Team?

 Collaborate | Understanding Your Role in Your CLL Care

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How Can You Engage in Your CLL Care?

Transcript:  

Dr. Johnson: 

Hello again! I’m Dr. Johnson, and I’m a doctor who specializes in chronic lymphocytic leukemia, or C-L-L. And this is Joseph, one of my patients. Welcome back to the CLL Collaborate Series! 

In the first video, Joseph and I talked about the important role patients play in their care and treatment decisions. 

Joseph: 

That’s right! And from the start, patients and their care partners should understand what the diagnosis actually MEANS.  

Dr. Johnson, can you please explain what CLL is? 

Dr. Johnson: 

I’d be happy to. CLL begins in the cells in the bone marrow—white blood cells called lymphocytes–and then goes into the blood. It’s the most common type of adult leukemia.1 

The condition is typically diagnosed through a blood test and confirmed by a bone marrow biopsy. Each patient is different, but some people may have symptoms that lead to testing for CLL. 

Joseph: 

And when I was diagnosed, I was having frequent colds and sinus infections. Dr. Johnson, what are other symptoms? 

Dr. Johnson: 

Like Joseph mentioned, a high risk of infection is associated with CLL. Other common symptoms may include:  

  • Fatigue 
  • Night sweats 
  • Enlarged lymph nodes or spleen 
  • Fever  
  • And unintentional weight loss 

Joseph: 

And it’s important to get an accurate diagnosis to understand how an individual patient’s CLL may behave. Dr. Johnson, what testing helps you learn more about the specifics of a patient’s disease? 

Dr. Johnson: 

This is important as no two CLL patients are the same. So, we should conduct essential testing at diagnosis to get more information about how a patient’s CLL may progress, and the results may even help guide treatment options.  

In addition to a complete blood count—or CBC, tests may include: 

  • Flow cytometry testing 
  • Cytogenetic testing  
  • Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH for short) 
  • Molecular testing  
  • And imaging tests, such as a CT scan 

Your doctor should review the results of these tests with you and make sure you understand how they impact your CLL care and treatment decisions.  

Joseph: 

Right! It’s a good idea to discuss the results with your doctor before you begin conversations about your treatment options.  

So, what other proactive steps can you take to understand your CLL diagnosis?  

  • Make sure you understand the specifics of your unique CLL, how it will impact your lifestyle, and if there are symptoms you should be looking out for. 
  • Ask whether you have had all key testing and discuss the results with your doctor. 
  • Find out if there are any indicators that your CLL is high-risk or fast-growing.  
  • And finally, when it’s time to make treatment decisions, ask which tests will need to be repeated. 

Dr. Johnson: 

Great advice! Don’t forget to download the resource guide that goes with this video—it provides an overview of the information we covered. 

Joseph: 

You can also visit powerfulpatients.org/CLL to view more videos with Dr. Johnson and me. Thanks for joining us!  

Relapsed and Refractory Follicular Lymphoma | What Is It?

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Relapsed and Refractory Follicular Lymphoma | What Is It? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What is relapsed and refractory follicular lymphoma? Cancer patient Lisa Hatfield explains the disease status and what these patients often commonly experience.

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 How Does Watch and Wait Work During Remission

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Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

According to the Lymphoma Research Foundation, The term “relapsed” refers to disease that reappears or grows again after a period of remission. The term “refractory” is used to describe when the lymphoma does not respond to treatment or when the response to treatment does not last very long. 

Although many patients go into a remission that lasts for years after their initial treatment, the disease can often return. For patients whose lymphoma relapses or become refractory, second-line therapies, which are treatments given when first therapy does not work or stops working, are often successful in providing another remission. 

However, for some patients whose lymphoma relapses do not need treatment right away, and an “active surveillance” approach might be used. With this strategy (often called “watch and wait”), the person’s overall health and disease are monitored through regular checkup visits and lab and imaging tests. This may sound scary, but it’s better to wait than receive unnecessary treatment that could come with side effects. 

If a patient starts to develop lymphoma-related symptoms or there are signs that the disease is progressing based on testing during follow-up visits, then treatment may begin again. The same therapies used for newly diagnosed patients can often be used in patients with relapsed/refractory FL. Depending on the timing of relapse, a patient’s doctor may repeat the same agent as  their initial treatment. Treatment for relapsed/refractory FL is based on a patient’s age, overall health, symptoms, and the duration of remission from the last treatment they received. 

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Biomarker CA-125 and Renal Medullary Carcinoma: What Do We Know?

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Biomarker CA-125 and Renal Medullary Carcinoma: What Do We Know? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What is known about the renal medullary carcinoma (RMC) biomarker called CA-125? Expert Dr. Nizar Tannir explains how the CA-125 biomarker has been analyzed and further studies of the biomarker used along with other RMC testing.

Dr. Nizar Tannir is a Professor in the Department of Genitourinary Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

[ACT]IVATION TIP

“…another valuable information to have, but it has to be interpreted in the context of other things in the context of how the patient is doing, whether they have symptoms that are improving or getting worse, and imaging studies. So all of this has to be incorporated, integrated together as one package and not just look at it individually and make decisions, right, only based on that. So it’s a good tool, it’s something to use, and we are learning more about it, and pretty soon, hopefully we will publish our results about that.”

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What Renal Medullary Carcinoma Treatment Options Are Available?

 Should Families of Renal Medullary Carcinoma Patients Undergo Genetic Testing?

Should Families of Renal Medullary Carcinoma Patients Undergo Genetic Testing?

Transcript:

Cora:

Dr. Tannir, there is news about monitoring levels of the biomarker CA-125 and renal medullary carcinoma and how it may help predict disease development. What do we know about CA-125 as a biomarker in renal medullary carcinoma?

Dr. Tannir:  

The CA-125 biomarker has been established as a good serological marker that you test in serum in women with ovarian cancer. So in women with ovarian cancer or suspected to have ovarian cancer, that blood test can be very valuable and elevated blood level of CA-125 in women with suspected ovarian cancer or established already women already diagnosed with ovarian cancer can provide information about the activity of the disease and response to therapy. So when a patient with ovarian cancer, for example, a response has, say, a debulking surgery and then the blood test is drawn, is tested after surgery the blood level will go down. You give them chemotherapy and the blood level goes down indicating that they’re responding. If they achieve a complete remission, complete response that CA-125 level could go down to undetectable level or normal range level as physiologic and women who don’t have ovarian cancer. Likewise, we use it in ovarian cancer to see if it’s rising, that the patient could be developing a recurrence of that disease. So it’s been very helpful in that regard.

And actually the pioneer this researcher, the physician scientist who led the initial work with CA-125 as a biomarker in cancer, was Dr. Robert Bast from MD Anderson. Now recently Dr. Msaouel and our team at MD Anderson looked at a battery, a panel of serology to really see if one of them is associated or could be linked to RMC and among a battery, a panel of several of these serological biomarkers. We found that CA-125 actually is a valuable blood test that we use to monitor RMC, not just in women like ovarian cancer, women with ovarian cancer, but in men and women with RMC the CA-125 could be valuable. Now, it’s not as they say panacea, it’s not like it’s if a patient has…the patient could have high tumor burden with obvious disease when you do CAT scans and MRIs and PET scans and other imaging studies.

But CA-125 may not be elevated but in many patients it can track the disease response to therapy that you are treating the patients with. And it could be valuable in that sense. But more recently we found that this could be also a relevant or a potentially relevant and important target to use therapy against RMC with that. So we are developing, Dr. Msaouel is preparing and hopefully we will launch this trial before the end of the year where we are using novel therapy based on that link based on that CA-125, whether this therapy will be more effective than chemotherapy, time will tell. So my activation tip on this is it’s good information to have, I encourage providers who treat patients with RMC at other institutions to test draw the blood order this test on their patients and see if in their patients it’ll be valuable.

It’ll be helpful to help them to track the disease. So that’s my activation tip is another valuable information to have, but it has to be interpreted in the context of other things in the context of how the patient is doing, whether they have symptoms that are improving or getting worse, and imaging studies. So all of this has to be incorporated, integrated together as one package and not just look at it individually and make decisions, right, only based on that. So it’s a good tool, it’s something to use, and we are learning more about it, and pretty soon, hopefully we will publish our results about that. 

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