December 2015
Volume 2, Issue 12
This issues features a sneak preview of the upcoming ASH Annual Meeting, debates whether IVC filters should still be inserted into thrombosis management guidelines, and has an in-depth focus on the how ABIM is still working to address concerns about the MOC program.
Table of Contents
December 2015
Managing Peripheral Neuropathy
How does peripheral neuropathy manifest?
Peripheral neuropathy usually causes numbness, tingling, pain, and weakness that starts in the toes and rises to the level of...
Take My Leftover Tissue, Please!
I can understand if maybe you missed the big announcement on September 8.
Perhaps you were out apple-picking with your kids, or were getting ready for...
How Do We Solve a “Problem” Like Millennials?
I recently moved and, while I was packing, unearthed one of my daughter’s old trophies with the inscription: “Summer Bowling League Participant.” Yes, we live...
Research Nurses: The Glue That Holds Everything Together
After graduating from nursing school, I worked as a registered floor nurse for nine years before becoming a research nurse. Then, while I was...
The Roadmap Forward in Follicular Lymphoma: Time for a Precision Approach
Over the past two decades, improved diagnostic accuracy and novel therapeutic approaches have resulted in profound improvements in overall survival in patients with follicular...
December 2015
Remembering Bernard Forget, New National Academy of Medicine Members, and more
Bernard G. Forget, MD (1939 – 2015)
Bernard G. Forget, MD, passed away on November 6, 2015, at the age of 76.
A renowned hematologist and...
Inaugural Jake Wetchler Foundation Scholar Award, Advocacy Leadership Institute, and more
ASH Announces Inaugural Jake Wetchler Foundation ASH Scholar for Pediatric Innovation Recipient
Stephen S. Chung, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New...
December 2015
Should IVC Filters Still Be Inserted into Thrombosis Management Guidelines?
Although the use of inferior vena cava (IVC) filters to prevent thrombosis has increased dramatically in the past decade, the risk-benefit ratio of these...
Bridging the Gap: How ASH Bridge Grant Recipients are Advancing Research
Biomedical researchers are operating in a tepid – lukewarm, at best – funding environment. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a major source of...
Maintenance of Credibility
Two years after changing its MOC requirements, the ABIM is still working to address concerns about the program.
The American Board of Internal Medicine’s (ABIM)...
Pulling Back the Curtain: David A. Williams, MD
What was your first job?
I had a few jobs as a kid. In the fourth grade, I delivered newspapers. Then my dad got me...
Where the Birds Are: Jacques Malherbe, MD
When did you become interested in bird-watching? What drew you to it?
I was interested in birds, and nature in general, at an early age....
Palliative Care: Time for Hematology to Step Up
When the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized its payment schedule for advanced-care planning in November, establishing separate payment for these discussions...
December 2015
The Patient Connection
What qualities make a good mentor?
To me, mentoring and teaching are essentially two sides of the same coin: One cannot teach well without mentoring...
Walking the Walk
In this issue, we speak with Curt I. Civin, MD, the winner of the 2015 ASH Basic Science Mentor Award. Dr. Civin talks about the challenges...
Do you consider TBO–filgrastim identical, in terms of response and tolerance, to filgrastim?
This month, Linda J. Burns, MD, answers a question about the similarities between TBO-filgrastim and filgrastim.Do you consider TBO–filgrastim identical, in terms of response...
Understanding Childhood Cancer
Childhood cancers make up less than 1 percent of all cancers diagnosed each year. About 10,380 children in the United States under the age...
December 2015
FCR in Patients with IGHV-Mutated CLL Long-Term Remissions, Long-Term Survival
Treatment with fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, and rituximab (FCR) is considered by many to be the standard of care for physically fit patients with chronic lymphocytic...
High-Dose Dexamethasone Preferable to Corticosteroids for Patients with Immune Thrombocytopenia
While ASH’s 2011 practice guidelines recommend first-line treatment with corticosteroids (typically prednisone) for adult patients with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) only two-thirds of patients are...
CATCH-ing Clots: Tinzaparin Versus Warfarin in Cancer-Associated VTE
In patients with active cancer and acute venous thromboembolism (VTE), use of the low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) tinzaparin led to a lower rate of clinically...
Measuring Response in GVHD Clinician Assessment, Patient-Reported Outcomes Predict Survival
In patients who have undergone allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT), chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. A major...
Long-Term Survival in ALL after Blinatumomab Treatment Linked to MRD, T-Cell Expansion
Patients with relapsed/refractory B-precursor acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) treated with the bispecific T-cell engager antibody construct blinatumomab experienced a median overall survival (OS) of 13...
Prioritizing Unrelated Donor Characteristics in Allogeneic Transplants How Do Age, HLA Disparity Affect Survival?
The number of adults registered as unrelated donors for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation has topped 24 million worldwide, and that number is still increasing....
Gastrointestinal Bleeding Not Affected by Resumption of Anticoagulation Therapy
When a patient requiring long-term anticoagulant therapy experiences gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding, requiring interruption of therapy, clinicians must decide whether or not to resume anticoagulation...
Lenalidomide Plus Erythropoietin Improves Erythroid Response in Low-Risk MDS Patients
Adding lenalidomide to erythropoietin treatment led to a significantly higher erythroid response rate than lenalidomide alone in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) who were...
Examining Conditioning Regimens with Busulfan plus Fludarabine or Cyclophosphamide in Older AML Patients
Myeloablative conditioning regimens that contain busulfan plus cyclophosphamide are associated with substantial non-relapse mortality in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who are undergoing...
4D Study, Rivaroxaban, and more
BLEEDING DISORDERS
Alice Ma, MD
University of North Carolina School of Medicine
This month’s benign hematology section focuses on the prevention and management of venous thromboembolism (VTE).
The...
New Proposed Rulemaking to the Common Rule, Recent FDA Approvals, NCCN’s New Value Initiative,...
HHS Announces New Proposed Rulemaking to the Common Rule Protecting Human Subjects in Research
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for...
Rituximab Maintenance Therapy Post-AHCT Improves Survival for Patients with MCL
For patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), while maintenance therapy with rituximab after autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (AHCT) has been shown to extend progression-free...
December 2015
American Society of Hematology’s 2015 Inside Look: Insights from Program Chairs, Speakers, ...
This year’s ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition, taking place December 5-8 in Orlando, Florida, features a diverse lineup of educational activities, networking opportunities, and...
