March 2015
Volume 1, Issue 3
This issue features a debate of rituximab versus splenectomy in ITP patients, a look at novel oral anticoagulants taking warfarin’s place, mentoring advice from a fellowship program director, and more.
Table of Contents
March 2015
These Are a Few of My Least Favorite Things
Although not validated by CLIA-certified genomics testing, I believe that I am certifiably of Scottish descent and, therein, probably have the genome of a...
Managing High Blood Pressure: The Cardiologist’s Perspective
Do you treat many patients for hypertension who also have hematologic malignancies?
We definitely do, and obviously, some of that prevalence is due to age....
@BldCancerDoc, Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Twitter
I am a recent convert to Twitter. For a while, I was the average Twitter Joe – following a few important people and being followed mainly...
Caregivers, Transitions, and a Chronic Disease Model
Diagnoses of hematologic malignancies are less common than solid tumor diagnoses, but several advances over the last decade have led to improved survival for...
March 2015
ASH Report Highlights New “Systems-Based” Hematologist Role
In response to today’s rapidly changing U.S. health-care system, hematologists – particularly those specializing in non-malignant blood diseases – are exploring an innovative, sustainable new role: the...
LRF Awards Grants, NCI Awards UT Southwestern Funding, and more
LRF Awards Grants to Study Lymphoma in Adolescent, Young Adult Patients
As part of a partnership with The Paul Foundation on Critical Adolescent and Young...
March 2015
Pulling Back the Curtain: Beverly S. Mitchell, MD
When did you know you wanted to pursue a career in medicine?
As early as I can remember, I knew I wanted to be a...
Guy Young, MD: Hematologist, Novelist
Where did the inspiration for Bad Blood come from?
One day during my long commute, the idea just popped into my head: what if a...
NOACs: The Novel Kids on the Block
The time has come for clinicians to turn to novel oral anticoagulant agents for the first-line prevention of stroke and systemic embolism in patients with...
Rituximab or Splenectomy in Steroid-Resistant ITP Patients?
Corticosteroids are the standard initial treatment for adult patients with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), while splenectomy is considered second-line treatment. Drugs like rituximab have...
March 2015
What options do I have for an elderly patient with Hodgkin lymphoma who cannot...
This month, John Sweetenham, MD, advises on treatment options for an elderly patient with Hodgkin lymphoma.I have a 90-year-old female patient with relatively poor performance...
How I Mentor
Any fellow entering a training program is faced with an overwhelming number of opportunities – laboratory research, clinical practice, teaching and education, policy, communications,...
What is Multiple Myeloma?
Multiple myeloma, also known as myeloma, is the second most common blood cancer in the United States. There has been great progress in the development...
March 2015
FDA Approves First Biosimilar Drug, New Indication for Lenalidomide, and more
FDA Approves First Biosimilar Drug
Zarxio (filgrastim-sndz), a biosimilar product of filgrastim, was recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This is...
ACE-536 for MDS, Vorinostat in SCD, and more
LEUKEMIA
Selected by David Steensma, MD
A Phase 2, Open-Label, Ascending Dose Study of ACE-536 for the Treatment of Anemia in Patients With Low or Intermediate-1...
Do Clinical Trials Underreport Cancer Drug Toxicities?
Clinical trials may be underreporting patient toxicities from cancer drugs – by up to 75 percent in some cases – according to a new...
Rituximab Plus Recombinant Human Thrombopoietin: Fast Results in Immune Thrombocytopenia
Although corticosteroids or intravenous immunoglobulin are typical first- and second-line treatments for immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), about one-third of patients do not respond to these...
MDS/MPN Overlap: The Time is Now for Uniform Response Criteria
Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS)/myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are clonal myeloid disorders possessing both dysplastic and proliferative features that cannot be classified as one or the other...
Order of Gene Mutation: Predicting What Cancer Will Do Next
Over the last decade, scientists have gained a much greater understanding of which genes acquire mutations in particular cancers. Now, new research is showing...
Can Genetic Sequencing Provide Insights into Disease and Hematopoiesis?
Sequencing of genomic data is increasingly becoming a valuable tool in identifying disease etiology in diagnostically challenging cases, as one research team discovered while...
A Surprising Conclusion: High-Cost Blood Cancer Treatments May Be Cost-Effective
Although the past 15 years have seen great progress in the treatment of hematologic malignancies, these innovative therapies have left payers and patients with...
Low-Molecular-Weight Heparin Fails to Boost Live Birth Rates in Women with Recurrent Miscarriage
Antithrombotic medications are often prescribed to women with histories of unexplained recurrent miscarriages, although there is little evidence of the efficacy of this approach....
March 2015
The Inaugural ASH Meeting on Hematologic Malignancies: A Discussion With the Co-Chairs
New clinical and biologic data within lymphoid and myeloid malignancies, including newly completed clinical trials, novel drugs, and insight into the genetic basis of these varied diseases is coming so fast and...
