Tag Archive for: low risk

The Benefits of Shared Decision-Making for Myeloma Care

/in , , , , , , , /by

The Benefits of Shared Decision-Making for Myeloma Care from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Why is working WITH your myeloma care team to determine a treatment plan so important? Dr. Sikander Ailawadhi reviews the benefits of the concept of shared decision-making and explains how myeloma treatment goals affect a patient’s care plan.

Dr. Sikander Ailawadhi is a hematologist and oncologist specializing in myeloma at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. Learn more about Dr. Ailawadhi.

Related Resources:

Understanding Myeloma Testing and Monitoring | An Overview

Understanding Myeloma Testing and Monitoring | An Overview

Key Advice for Myeloma Patients | Questions to Ask About a Care Plan

 Available Myeloma Treatment Options for Patients | An Overview

Available Myeloma Treatment Options for Patients | An Overview

Transcript:

Katherine:

So, when it comes to choosing therapy for myeloma, it’s important to work with your healthcare team to identify what might be best for you. How would you define shared decision-making and why is this so critical to properly managing life with myeloma?  

Dr. Ailawadhi:

Excellent question, Katherine. Shared decision-making or a process in which the physician, the health care team, and the patient, their caregivers, everybody comes together, shared, to make a decision that we feel is in the best interest for that patient at that time. That is the whole concept.  

Whenever we think about treatment decisions, in our mind, the three main components that have to be considered every single time. Not just newly diagnosed or relapsed or third line or whatever, every single time a treatment decision has been taken, we must consider patient-related factors. What is their preference? What are their goals? Do they have caregiver support? How far do they live? Do they want IV? Pills? Any side effects that are there?  

Comorbidities? Other issues? Financial conditions? Everything comes into play, patient-related factors. Then, there are disease-related factors. How fast is the disease growing? Is this new? Is this old disease, high-risk, low-risk, or standard risk? Or what has been given before, et cetera. So, patient and disease-related. And the number three is the treatment-related factors. What is being considered for the patient? What are the ins and outs, pros, and cons?   

All of this has to be laid out in front of the patient and preferably also their caregiver if the patient has someone who they can share their decision with.  

And when we put all of that in the mix, we come up with a decision which is hopefully in the patient’s best interest. They are more likely to go through with it. They are informed. They are involved in their care. And then, hopefully, if the patient starts on a treatment that they are interested in, knowledgeable about, and committed to, we’ll be able to keep the patient on that longer term and get the best benefit out of it.  

So, in my mind, the main reason for shared decision-making is to make sure my patient is committed to that treatment. They understand that treatment. And we make this kind of bond between us as clinicians and our teams and the patient and their home team, their family team, their caregiver team so that everybody is working together with a singular goal. Right treatment for the right patient at the right time because it must be patient-centric, not research or clinician, or drug-centric. 

Katherine:

What are myeloma treatment goals, and how are they determined?   

Dr. Ailawadhi:

So, I think the myeloma treatment goals can be very different depending on what vantage points you’re looking from. My treatment goal is to provide the best treatment for my patient that has least side effects, gets a deep control, and my patient’s able to live long with a good quality of life. Okay. But that’s my goal.  I need to figure out what my patient’s goals are, and sometimes our patient’s goals are very different.  A patient’s goal might be that they want to really avoid side effects. Well, they want to live, lead their quality of life, and keep traveling. And this happens on a day-to-day basis.  

Just the other day, one of the patients said, “Well, I really want to keep driving around in my RV with my wife, because that is what we had wanted to do at this point of our life. What can you do to help me control my disease, but keep me driving my RV?” And we literally had to figure out where all they were traveling. We identified clinics close to them and connected with physicians so that they could continue their treatment wherever they were. So, the patient’s goals are very important, and in fact, I would say they are paramount. So, understanding what the patient wants. They may be wanting to control pain. They may be wanting to just live longer.  

They may be wanting to delay treatment so that they could watch their daughter’s soccer game. I’m just saying that the goals can be very different. It is important to lay them out. Every time you’re making a treatment decision, the goals should be laid out into short-, mid-, and long-term goals. I should bring my goals to the discussion. The patient should bring their goals to the discussion, and we come up with whatever is the best answer for them that suits them.  

Essential Thrombocythemia Watch & Wait | What Patients Should Know

/in , , , , , , , /by

Essential Thrombocythemia Watch & Wait | What Patients Should Know from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What is watch and wait, and what does it mean for essential thrombocythemia (ET) patients? Dr. Naveen Pemmaraju defines this term, helps viewers to understand why it’s beneficial to wait before beginning treatment, and shares advice for managing the worry that can be associated with this time period.

Dr. Naveen Pemmaraju is Director of the Blastic Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cell Neoplasm (BPDCN) Program in the Department of Leukemia at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Learn more about Dr. Pemmaraju. 

 

Related Programs:

Increased MPN Symptoms | What Does It Mean for Patients

Increased MPN Symptoms | What Does It Mean for Patients?

 Expert Advice | Living and Thriving With an MPN

Expert Advice | Living and Thriving With an MPN

 Advances in Research | Emerging MPN Therapies on the Horizon

Advances in Research | Emerging MPN Therapies on the Horizon

Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

Stephanie writes, “I have ET, and I’m not being treated. Do you have advice for the watch-and-wait period? I’m anxious about the disease changing and don’t know what I’m waiting for.” So, before you answer the question, Dr. Pemmaraju, would you define this term, watch and wait?  

Dr. Pemmaraju:

I will. And to Stephanie and everyone out there, this is a great question. I will say half the folks I talk to actually call it watch and worry, okay. Some people call it watch and wait, and as Stephanie’s saying, some people call it watch and worry.  

Yeah, the concept is threefold. One is that there are many cancers, many cancers, including blood cancers, that can be caught so early on that they don’t require treatment. A lot of patients with CLL, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, ET, as Stephanie mentioned, in the solid tumor. It’s very common to be diagnosed with a prostate cancer that’s low grade, early stage that can be observed. Number two is in ET, there is a science behind it.   

What we found in our studies, and they can be updated over time and you’ll see those, the traditional is that if you’re below the age of 60 and/or you’ve had no blood clot, thrombotic event, that’s considered low risk. And the treatment can be observation, perhaps adding in a baby aspirin to prevent against blood clots if there’s no contraindication. Now what’s magic about that age 60, obviously as you know, it’s not magic. It’s more of a statistical, continuous variable algorithm that says around that time, the risk of blood clots goes up.

And so then you’d consider cytoreductive therapy at that point. Now there’s exceptions to that. Many of our young patients are on therapy, but there’s usually some reason for that. Some high-risk feature, wildly uncontrolled blood counts, for example, symptom burden, some other high-risk features. So, it’s a suggestion. It’s a guideline, not an absolute. And then the third part of it is, the what do you do in that time? And that’s the frustrating thing. And I think that’s what Stephanie’s getting to.  

Again, that’s why I said the watch and worry versus watch and wait. Some of it is, how are you feeling outside of this? Some patients take it as a great news. Hey, you have this blood cancer, that’s not good news. But the good news is it’s probably not going to be active for a long time, we can, “just watch it.” But some people, as Stephanie is saying, take it the opposite way. What do you mean I got a blood cancer? I got something lurking in my body. You’re telling me it’s there, you know it’s there. And so what’s up with that? And the concept there is that some of these situations like low-risk ET, we found that if you treat too early, too aggressively, you can actually do harm.  

So, that’s the key. These chemo drugs are not benign as you had me discuss earlier. They have toxicity, side effects, short-term, long-term. So, it’s a risk-benefit thing. If the risk far outweighs the benefit, as in the younger patient with no symptoms, no high-risk features, observation is okay. But at some point, when it turns, that’s the threshold.  

So, really the key is, if we believe these are stem cell blood cancer disorders, we need to be thinking about and designing therapies with minimal to no toxicity. Something that actually modifies the disease early on and something that leads to long-term outcomes. And we don’t have that yet in ET. We’re working on that in PV and myelofibrosis. So, stay tuned for that.

And then finally, let me also add, this is an important point, not everybody gets it. This watch and wait versus watch and worry. So, I’m glad Stephanie brought that up because it’s not always good news, uniformly, when you tell someone, good news is you don’t have to do anything bad news, there’s something there. 

Engage Myeloma Resource Guide

/in , , , , , /by

Download Guide

PEN-133_EngageMM_ResourceGuide_F

Download Guide

See More from Engage Myeloma

What Should You Ask Your Doctor About Myeloma Testing?

/in , , , , , , , , , /by

What Should You Ask Your Doctor About Myeloma Testing? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Testing and test results may affect your myeloma care and treatment. Dr. Nina Shah, a myeloma expert, shares key questions to ask your doctor about testing and reviews testing techniques for myeloma. 

Dr. Nina Shah is Associate Professor of Medicine in the Fepartment of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and treats patients at the Hematology and Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinic at UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Learn more about Dr. Shah, here.

See More From INSIST! Myeloma

Related Programs:

 

What Key Steps Should Follow a Myeloma Diagnosis

What Key Steps Should Follow a Myeloma Diagnosis?

 How Does Myeloma Testing Affect Care and Treatment

How Does Myeloma Testing Affect Care and Treatment? 

 What Standard Testing Follows a Myeloma Diagnosis_ (1)

What Standard Testing Follows a Myeloma Diagnosis?

Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

If a patient wants testing beyond the standard, what should they be asking their doctors for?

Dr. Shah:

Well, thankfully a lot of these tests can be done as a standard. We actually have some approved testing for it. So, the most important thing is to ask the doctor at all. For example, the patient may ask, 1.) “When will my next bone marrow biopsy be?” and 2.) “When I get that bone marrow biopsy, will you be looking at cytogenetics and FISH?” and 3.) “When you get the bone marrow biopsy, will you be also looking for minimal residual disease?” And finally, “What technique will you use to look for that minimal residual disease?” There are different ones that the patients might find useful to know about.

Katherine Banwell:

What are some of the different techniques?

Dr. Shah:

There are a variety of ways that we can look for minimal residual disease. One of them is called flow cytometry. What that is is you send all the cells that are in the bone marrow through a chute, and in that chute you can sort of detect one or however many cells that are – that have a specific characteristic on their cell surface.

You think of it as a bunch of balls with lollipops sticking out of it. And based on the characteristics of those lollipops, you can tell if there are any plasma cells or myeloma cells. Another thing we do with minimal residual disease, another technique, is called the next-gen sequencing or NGS.

And for that, we need to know the specific DNA sequence that is very personal to your myeloma cells. So, your particular plasma cell or the cancer cell will have a sort of sequence, a specific sequence that can be identified when you’re first diagnosed. And if you have access to that tissue, that can be sent off to the company, and they use that as sort of a template or a measure – an individual identification. And then, they scan the subsequent bone marrow samples against that to see if there’s any sequence that matches that original one, and that’s the way you can detect one in a million positive cells, if there are any. 

How Is Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) Testing Used in Myeloma Care?

/in , , , , , , , /by

How Is Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) Testing Used in Myeloma Care? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Myeloma expert Dr. Nina Shah explains minimal residual disease (MRD) and how the results of this test may impact patient care and treatment.

Dr. Nina Shah is Associate Professor of Medicine in the Fepartment of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and treats patients at the Hematology and Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinic at UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Learn more about Dr. Shah, here.

See More From INSIST! Myeloma

Related Programs:

 

Who Is On Your Myeloma Healthcare Team

Who Is On Your Myeloma Healthcare Team? 

 How Does Myeloma Testing Affect Care and Treatment

How Does Myeloma Testing Affect Care and Treatment? 

 What Are the Goals of Myeloma Treatment

What Are the Goals of Myeloma Treatment? 

Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

What is minimal residual disease testing, and when should it take place?

Dr. Shah:

Minimal residual disease is exactly what it sounds like. It’s the disease that you can’t see under the microscope, but it’s still there.

And I sort of equate it to the little deep food particles that are in a pot after you clean it and really, really scrub it, but still, something is in there. And that’s what it is for myeloma. And really, that depends on how sensitive your test is. We now know we can test for at least one in a million cells by some advanced techniques, and we like to test to see if there’s any disease left after certain treatments are done – for example, after a patient undergoes an autologous stem cell transplant.

Katherine Banwell:

What impact do results have on care decisions?

Dr. Shah:

Minimal residual disease testing can be useful for patients to understand the true burden of their disease. For example, it may be that there’s no more M-protein in the blood, or the light chains are normal, or even the bone marrow showed no plasma cells. But the minimal residual disease testing may show that, in fact, there are a few cells still in there, and that can help patients to decide, “Yes, I want proceed with maintenance therapy,” for example, or “No, I would not like to.” Although, we generally recommend it, patients like to have as much information as possible to make their decisions. 

How Are Cytogenetics Used in Myeloma Care?

/in , , , , , , , /by

How Are Cytogenetics Used in Myeloma Care? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Myeloma expert, Dr. Nina Shah, explains cytogenetics and how results of these tests affect care and treatment for myeloma patients.

Dr. Nina Shah is Associate Professor of Medicine in the Fepartment of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and treats patients at the Hematology and Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinic at UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Learn more about Dr. Shah, here.

See More From INSIST! Myeloma

Related Programs:

 

What Standard Testing Follows a Myeloma Diagnosis_ (1)

What Standard Testing Follows a Myeloma Diagnosis?

 How Does Myeloma Testing Affect Care and Treatment

How Does Myeloma Testing Affect Care and Treatment? 

Myeloma Treatment Decisions: What Should Be Considered? 

Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

What is cytogenetics, and how is it used in myeloma patient care?

Dr. Shah:

We use the term cytogenetics and FISH sort of interchangeably, and really what it is, is the DNA characteristics of the bad plasma cells. So, the myeloma cells, and a lot of them may have changes in their DNA that are what we call clonal, meaning that they’re in a significant percentage of those cancer cells, or they might be non-clonal, which are less significant. But it’s the way the DNA is put together or maybe cut and pasted so that it changes the characteristics and maybe the aggressiveness of the disease.

Katherine Banwell:

What is the goal of this in-depth testing? Are there specific markers you’re looking for?

Dr. Shah:

When we look for things like cytogenetics and send FISH testing, we look to see if patients have changes that might make their disease may be more aggressive.

For example, it may cause their plasma cells, the myeloma cells, to grow faster or more aggressively. So, we look for changes that might, for example, have a deletion of a certain chain that puts the brakes on tumors, or it may have a translocation, which is when the chains sort of do-si-do together and that makes the cells grow faster. 

Understanding Your Role in Myeloma Treatment Decisions

/in , , , , , , /by

Understanding Your Role in Myeloma Treatment Decisions from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Many factors are considered when choosing a myeloma treatment. Dr. Nina Shah, a myeloma expert, reviews how treatment decisions are made and the patient’s role in deciding on an approach.

Dr. Nina Shah is Associate Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and treats patients at the Hematology and Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinic at UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Learn more about Dr. Shah, here.

See More From Engage Myeloma

Related Programs:

What Key Steps Should Follow a Myeloma Diagnosis

What Key Steps Should Follow a Myeloma Diagnosis? 

 What Key Questions Should Myeloma Patients Ask About Treatment

What Key Questions Should Myeloma Patients Ask About Treatment? 

 An Expert Reflects on Hopeful Advances in Myeloma Treatment

An Expert Reflects on Hopeful Advances in Myeloma Treatment 

Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

What are the main factors that you take into consideration before a treatment approach is decided on?

Dr. Shah:

We always have to remember that treating a patient is also treating a person. So, it’s not just about what the disease the patient has but who the patient is. And so, we take into consideration goals that the patient as well as other health factors that may take – be taken into consideration. For example, the patient may have high blood pressure or a heart condition. But regarding the disease, we really also take into consideration what the profile of the disease is, maybe how much disease burden the patient has and some genetic factors that may impact our decision-making.

Katherine Banwell:

What is the patient’s role in treatment decisions?

Dr. Shah:

The patient should always be the center of the decision-making. I think that’s a really important thing for us to remember because ultimately, it’s the patient who has to make the decision and has to withstand the treatment. Alongside of that there may be some caregivers as well, but the patient has to, 1.) understand the disease, and 2.) understand the treatment options. So, it’s best if the patient has as much information as possible.

Katherine Banwell:

Are treatment considerations different for patients with relapsed disease?

Dr. Shah:

For patients with relapsed disease, there’s a lot of things to consider that may not have been true when the patient was first diagnosed. For example, you always have to think of what maybe the patient had as a prior – excuse me, as a prior treatment, and also how the patient tolerated it. 

What You Should Know About Myeloma Clinical Trial Participation

/in , , , , /by

What You Should Know About Myeloma Clinical Trial Participation from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Myeloma expert Dr. Nina Shah shares her view on why patients should consider a myeloma clinical trial and provides advice for finding and participating in a trial.

Dr. Nina Shah is Associate Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and treats patients at the Hematology and Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinic at UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Learn more about Dr. Shah, here.

See More From Engage Myeloma

Related Programs:

Myeloma Treatment: When Should a Clinical Trial Be Considered? 

What Are the Goals of Myeloma Treatment?

 An Expert Reflects on Hopeful Advances in Myeloma Treatment

An Expert Reflects on Hopeful Advances in Myeloma Treatment 

Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

Why should a patient consider participating in a clinical trial?

Dr. Shah:

I am a huge fan of clinical trials, as you probably figured out. And the reason for that is that it’s the only way we know how to do things. And for everything we figured out about myeloma, it’s because patients participated beforehand in clinical trials. So, of course, it’s a way to pay it forward. But aside from that, there’s an experience that a patient can have on a clinical trial that is really unlike other experiences that patients may have. For example, they will be given the opportunity to understand a lot about their disease that maybe they may not have understood before, and they may have the opportunity to try a treatment that might be beneficial.

There are no guarantees in a clinical trial, and that informed consent procedure where the doctor tells you about the risks, benefits, and alternatives, should be very comprehensive and clear. But it does allow for patients to get access to something they may not have had before. And I think one of the other things that’s important is that it’s sort of a concierge service, I would say, with clinical trials, because you have to be monitored very closely. So, of course, all your symptoms have to be known. And you get a little bit more time, I would say, when you participate in a clinical trial because we really want to know the pluses and minuses of these treatments.

Katherine Banwell:

How can patients participate in research? Where do they start?

Dr. Shah:

Participating in research is a great opportunity for patients and something that we’re grateful for as myeloma physicians. There are many ways to look on various websites. There are things like SparkCures. There’s ClinicalTrials.gov. You can look at any academic website. Almost all advocacy groups also have opportunities for you to look at clinical trials.

And any time you get the opportunity to look at patient education sites, they may have a link for you to look for other clinical trials that might be relevant to your particular stage in disease or the particular kind of myeloma that you have. When in doubt, please, if you have a chance, talk to your local oncologist perhaps to maybe refer you to a myeloma specialist. We can do this by Zoom now, so there should be no reason that we can’t be a part of your care team at least for a consultation. 

An Expert’s Hopeful Outlook on Myeloma Research and Treatment

/in , , , , , /by

An Expert’s Hopeful Outlook on Myeloma Research and Treatment from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Myeloma expert Dr. Nina Shah shares why she’s hopeful about research and treatment, including immunotherapy and CAR T-cell therapy.

Dr. Nina Shah is Associate Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and treats patients at the Hematology and Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinic at UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Learn more about Dr. Shah, here.

See More From Engage Myeloma

Related Programs:

 

How Will I Know If My Myeloma Treatment Is Working

How Will I Know if My Myeloma Treatment is Working?

 What Are the Goals of Myeloma Treatment

What Are the Goals of Myeloma Treatment? 

 How Does Myeloma Testing Affect Care and Treatment

How Does Myeloma Testing Affect Care and Treatment? 

Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

Is there emerging myeloma research that you feel patients should know about? And what are you excited about?

Dr. Shah:

There are so many aspects of myeloma treatment and the patient’s journey that we have been looking at. One of the things that I’m most excited about and I do a lot of research in is immunotherapy, which includes both CAR T-cell therapy as well as natural killer cell therapy and bispecific T-cell engager and other novel immunotherapies.

And I think these are interesting, because they allow for the patient’s own immune system sometimes to be used to kill the myeloma. And that’s something that is spring-boarding the way we treat myeloma to give patients better outcomes with less toxicity, if you can believe that. So, we’re really excited about that.

The other thing I’m really excited about is patient experience research that we’re doing. We now know that multiple myeloma patients live for maybe over a decade, and those patients are on a marathon of treatment; and how that treatment is a part of their life is very important in their experience as a patient. So, we’re trying to make that easier for patients as they go through, for example, transplants or maybe immunotherapy to give them more information, more control and more ability to talk about their symptoms with their provider and their care team.

What Questions Should Patients Ask About MPN Test Results?

/in , , , , , , , , , /by

What Questions Should Patients Ask About MPN Test Results? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What should you know about your MPN test results? Dr. Mascarenhas discusses how test results are used, including the importance of genetic mutations and risk stratification when analyzing results.

Dr. John Mascarenhas is Associate Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS) and the Director of the Adult Leukemia Program and Leader of Clinical Investigation within the Myeloproliferative Disorders Program at Mount Sinai. Learn more about Dr. Mascarenhas, here.

See More from INSIST! MPNs

Related Programs

Which Tests Do You Need Following an MPN Diagnosis

Which Tests Do You Need Following an MPN Diagnosis?

What Are the Goals of ET, PV, and MF Treatment?

What Are the Goals of ET, PV, and MF Treatment?

An Overview of ET, PV and MF Treatment Options

An Overview of ET, PV and MF Treatment Options

Transcript

Katherine Banwell: 

Some patients may not know if they’ve received these important tests. So, what key questions should they ask their physician about testing?

Dr. Mascarenhas:       

Well, I think it’s important that the patients feel empowered to understand sort of where the field is and what key questions you would ask a physician, hematologist who’s taking care of you. So, I think all patients should be aware of their diagnosis, the name of the diagnosis, the subtype, but also do they have any of the key driving mutations, the JAK2 mutation, the calreticulin mutation, the MPL mutation, and that’s usually done off of a bone marrow biopsy sample, but it can be done off peripheral blood. And, they may not always know that it’s done. So, I think having a discussion with the position to understand there are criteria that exist called the World Health Organization criteria that are updated frequently and should set a standard throughout the world of how you diagnose and establish these diagnoses.

So, I think it’s important for physicians to be able to convey to the patients with confidence, “We follow these criteria and you have these criteria and we’ve done this testing that shows that you have these mutations.” And not just regurgitate what they found, but help them understand and navigate with that means, which again, I will point out that sometimes we don’t know. But, I think it’s important for physicians to convey sometimes that some of the findings that they may see, for example, patients look on portals these days and they can look at their labs and stuff like that. And, we don’t always have a terrific answer or an informed answer for everything that we get back. And, we will potentially in 10 years from now, but sometimes at the moment, we don’t. But, I think a discussion about the meaning of the labs that are obtained is probably good for the patient to understand what’s being done.

Katherine Ba:nwell:

Absolutely. It sounds like each person’s situation is unique and should be considered before making any treatment choices. Can you talk about how the results of these tests may affect prognosis and treatment?

Dr. Mascarenhas:     

So, we do have risk stratification systems that we use for essential thrombocythemia, polycythemia vera, and myelofibrosis. I’ll talk about myelofibrosis because that’s probably a little bit more of a complex and sophisticated model. It’s also changing, and we update it frequently. And, these models are imperfect, so I always warn patients to not put all of their money in one basket when we talk about risk stratification. They broadly help us understand where a patient is in their disease course. So, for example, in myelofibrosis, historically, the DIPSS, the Dynamic International Prognostic Scoring System is used, which considered five clinical variables that have been shown to be independently prognostic. So, at age over 65, the presence of blasts or circulating immature cells in the peripheral blood, anemia, hemoglobin less than 10, symptoms, fevers, night sweats, weight loss or a high white count over 25,000, you those points up.

And patients can do this online. There are calculators that you can calculate your DIPSS score. And, you’ll see that there are four different risk groups that range from low risk to high risk, and they are associated with median survivals. We now know that mutations influence those, have influence on prognosis. So, there are a group of high molecular risk mutations like ASXL1, SRSF2, IDH1/2. So, there are mutations that also have prognostic significance, and we incorporate them into the decision-making.

And, essentially, and this is where I think patients have to be very careful, physicians have to be very careful with conveying this. With these risk models whether they are clinical variable risk models or these integrated molecular risk models, each category is associated with a median survival, that’s based on retrospective studies. But that doesn’t tell the patient specifically what they should expect in terms of survival. And, I always fear that patients, when they look at these things, or even physicians when they convey them that they may inadvertently misrepresent or convey what those really mean.

And, I think the purpose of those risk stratifications is really to help guide a risk adapted treatment approach that’s reasonable and is weighted for benefit to risk of the disease. So, for example, if you have advanced disease with a high-risk score of intermediate to or higher, bone marrow transplant in certain patients may be a warranted therapy to consider. So, they really help inform treatment.

 

How Does Myeloma Testing Affect Care and Treatment?

/in , , , , , , , /by

How Does Myeloma Testing Affect Care and Treatment? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What is cytogenetic testing in myeloma? Donna Catamero, a nurse practitioner specializing in myeloma, describes this in-depth testing, including the FISH test, and how the results impact the care of patients.

Donna Catamero is Associate Director of Myeloma Translational Research at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.

See More From INSIST! Myeloma

Related Programs:

 

What Standard Testing Follows a Myeloma Diagnosis_ (1)

What Standard Testing Follows a Myeloma Diagnosis?

 Myeloma Test Results and Factors That Impact Treatment Decisions

Myeloma Test Results and Factors That Impact Treatment Decisions

 What Key Questions Should Myeloma Patients Ask About Treatment

What Key Questions Should Myeloma Patients Ask About Treatment?

Transcript:

Katherine:

Blood and urine tests, bone marrow biopsy and imaging tests are all standard following a myeloma diagnosis, but what about more in-depth testing?

Because the terminology around biomarker testing varies, can you help break this down for patients, and how this in-depth testing is referred to in myeloma?

Donna:

So, biomarkers is a term that is commonly tossed around in many different cancer diagnoses and it means different things. But in general, it’s characteristics that can inform us about a diagnosis, about a patient’s prognosis and about their response to treatment. So, this can include things that we measure in the bloodwork, in the urine, even imaging. These are all things or markers that we look at to determine a patient’s either, like I said, response or risk stratification.

Katherine:

What about cytogenetics? What is that exactly and does that fit under the umbrella of biomarker testing?

Donna:

Yeah, so cytogenetics is a genetic snapshot of a patient’s cancer. So, it will give us a sense of how the disease will – the characteristics of how it will behave. But again, it’s just a snapshot and it’s not a precise science but certain mutations or certain genes will kind of inform us like “This might be maybe a more aggressive form and we need to do X, Y and Z.”

Katherine:

Which of these more in-depth tests are necessary in myeloma? Let’s start with the FISH test.

Donna:

So, FISH is a cytogenetic technique. So, what we do is, when we do the bone marrow, we send that off and we look at the genetics. Like I said, it’s a snapshot. And certain mutations will put patients in different risk stratifications, so we normally do this at the time of diagnosis and then with each relapse.

Katherine:

It seems that all of the test results can aid in determining outpatient’s risk. So, why is risk stratification so important?

Donna:

So, risk stratification is important.

It will give us a sense of how a patient might respond to certain treatments. Maybe a patient won’t respond as well to a stem cell transplant as someone with standard risk. So, we take this into account, but in this current time, in 2021, we don’t typically change our treatments according to risk. That’s why clinical research is very important because we’re studying right now patients with high-risk cytogenetics, do they do they better on certain therapies.

Katherine:

How do the results of these tests affect treatment choice and prognosis?

Donna:

So, someone who might have high-risk cytogenetics, we might want to be maybe more aggressive with our therapy. So, we might change how we want to maintain a patient. Usually, after a stem cell transplant, we give patients maintenance therapies. So, patients who have high-risk disease, we might change our strategy and have a more aggressive regimen in that maintenance setting. And with patients with higher risk, we probably will monitor them very, very closely in case – looking for signs for relapse. 

How Often Should You See Your MPN Doctor?

/in , , , , , , , /by

How Often Should You See Your MPN Doctor? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Dr. Laura Michaelis discusses how frequently patients with essential thrombocythemia (ET), polycythemia vera (PV) and myelofibrosis (MF) should visit their doctor. 

Dr. Laura Michaelis is hematologist specializing in myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) at Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin, where she also serves as Associate Professor of Medicine. Learn more about Dr. Michaelis here.

Related Resources

 

Monitoring MPNs: When is it Time to Switch Therapies

  

An Expert Shares Key Steps to Take Following an MPN Diagnosis

  

Essential Lab Tests for MPN Patients

Transcript:

Dr. Michaelis:             

So, the regular follow-up for myeloproliferative neoplasms, whether that is somebody with ET, PV, or myelofibrosis, is incredibly variable. It depends on the risk stratification. It depends on how frequently you’re needing intervention.

For example, somebody with low-risk polycythemia vera whose hematocrit is elevated and gets a phlebotomy – that person I follow relatively frequently.

Maybe every month or so until I know for sure that the phlebotomy frequency, the number of times we are removing blood, and the frequency, the rate at which that happens, is adequate to ensure that that person is not spending too much time with a hematocrit of over 45 percent.

We know that because randomized trials have shown that a hematocrit over 45 percent leads to an increased risk for bad clinical outcomes.

So, early on in that person’s trajectory, I might check their blood counts more often. Once I know that they are stable and can go longer periods of time, we can relax that out. And that may happen, for example, when they become iron deficient, and the need for phlebotomies decreases.

In somebody with essential thrombocythemia that’s well controlled, again, one might do blood counts every three months or maybe, if things are very stable, every six months.

This is something that I usually make sure that I’m following the national guidelines on and that I adjust from a patient standpoint. If somebody is seeing their PCP in three months and getting blood counts, and things have been stable, then there’s no reason to see more frequently.

Now, when do I see people more frequently? For example, if they’ve started a new treatment, and we want to make sure that their kidneys and liver are doing okay. If I’ve noticed a change in one of their organ functions on the basis of something and do a little tweaking of their medicines, then I might see them more frequently.

So, again, there’s no set-in stone. This is part of the art of medicine, and you wanna talk with your doctor about what you should expect and who’s gonna be following up on the tests that are drawn.