May 2019
Volume 5, Issue 6
This issue features a look at home-based care for hematologic disorders, strides in pediatric leukemia in El Salvador, and more.
Table of Contents
May 2019 Issue
Off to the Races: The Breakthroughs of Immunotherapy
ASH Clinical News Associate Editor David Steensma, MD, reviews The Breakthrough, which traces the evolution of immunotherapy to treat – and potentially cure – cancer.
Have you read any...
The Day I Was Schooled on CME
I put the final exclamation point on the “Thank you!!!” slide for a local continuing medical education (CME) talk on myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and...
Partners in Care: Palliative Care and Hematology
My nursing career began on a dedicated inpatient unit at Cedars-Sinai, caring for patients with HIV/AIDS at the tail end of the AIDS epidemic....
May 2019 Issue
Remembering Arthur Rosenberg, Dorothy Tuan Lo, and more
Remembering Arthur Rosenberg (1935 – 2018)
Arthur Rosenberg, MD, FRCPC, a former chief of hematology at the Jewish General Hospital (JGH) in Montreal, Quebec, passed...
Seventh Edition of ASH-SAP Coming Soon, CDC Responds to ASH’s Concerns About Opioid Guidelines
CDC Clarifies Opioid Prescribing Guideline at Urging of Hematology and Oncology GroupsHematologists, especially sickle cell disease (SCD) specialists, are welcoming a recent clarification from...
May 2019 Issue
Pulling Back the Curtain: Clara Bloomfield, MD
In this edition, Clara Bloomfield, MD, talks about being on the right project at the right time and having academia in her blood.Where did...
Resurrecting the House Call
New at-home strategies for hematologic conditions offer improved outcomes and patient satisfaction
Physician home visits have become a thing of the past: Nearly a century...
International Partnerships Lead to Strides in Pediatric Leukemia in El Salvador
Although acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) is relatively rare, it is the most common cancer diagnosed in children, representing approximately one-quarter of cancers diagnosed in...
Demystifying Genetic Testing for Bleeding Disorders
When hemophilia and von Willebrand disease (vWD) were first recognized, doctors didn’t diagnose a patient until he (or, much more infrequently, she) experienced a...
Raising the Barre: Kimberly Stegmaier, MD
In this edition, Kimberly Stegmaier, MD, discusses her passion for ballet.What was your first experience with ballet?
I grew up in Long Island and my...
May 2019 Issue
Is there a genetic risk for familial CLL?
This month, Kanti R. Rai, MD, discusses familial chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
And don't forget to check out next month's clinical dilemma - send in your...
From PowerPoint to PechaKucha
How often have you sat in the audience of a presentation at a medical conference and heard the speaker apologetically mumble, “Sorry, this is...
Reader Responses: The genetic risk for familial CLL
Here’s how readers responded to a You Make the Call question about the genetic risk for familial chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Disclaimer: ASH does not recommend...
May 2019 Issue
Evaluating Thalidomide-Cyclophosphamide-Prednisone for Idiopathic Multicentric Castleman Disease
An oral combination of thalidomide, cyclophosphamide, and prednisone (TCP) induced durable tumor and symptomatic response rates in nearly half of patients with newly diagnosed...
FDA Halts Trials of Venetoclax for Myeloma
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning to health-care professionals and clinical investigators about the risks associated with the investigational...
Venetoclax Plus Obinutuzumab Confers High MRD-Negative Rates in CLL
Results from a phase Ib study demonstrated that the combination of the BCL2 inhibitor venetoclax with the anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody obinutuzumab was safe and...
FDA’s ODAC Rejects Selinexor for Myeloma
In an 8-to-5 vote, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA’s) Oncologic Drug Advisory Committee (ODAC) decided against recommending accelerated approval of selinexor for...
Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Survivors Face Higher Risk of Second Cancers
People who were diagnosed with cancer as adolescents or young adults (AYAs) have an excess risk of developing a subsequent primary neoplasm later in...
Biomedical Research Community Concerned About Cuts in Proposed 2020 Budget
On March 11, President Donald Trump released his proposed fiscal year 2020 budget, called “A Budget for a Better America,” that includes a substantial...
FDA Alerts Patients About Blood Clot and Mortality Risk With Tofacitinib
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a Safety Announcement for the Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor tofacitinib after a required postmarketing trial...
Scott Gottlieb Resigns as FDA Commissioner
On March 5, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, announced his resignation, citing a desire to spend more time with...
Patient With HIV and Hodgkin Lymphoma Is Virus-Free Following Transplant
An allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT) intended to cure a patient’s refractory Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) may have also put his HIV virus into remission,...
May 2019 Issue
Are CAR T-Cell Therapies Moving to Hodgkin Lymphoma?
Results from two studies presented at the 2019 Transplantation & Cellular Therapy Meetings suggest that Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) may be the next target for...
Post-Transplant Ixazomib Maintenance Prolongs Survival in Newly Diagnosed Myeloma
For patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM) who relapse following autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (AHCT), maintenance therapy with the oral proteasome inhibitor (PI)...
Adoptive “Non-Engineered” T-Cell Therapy Shows Preliminary Efficacy in Lymphomas
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies engineered to recognize and destroy CD19 antigens on the surface of lymphoma cells have revolutionized the treatment of...
Beta-Thalassemia Gene Therapy Continues to Show Efficacy in Longer-Term Follow-up
Updated results from the phase I/II HGB-204 and HGB-207 trials indicated that several patients with severe, transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia have remained transfusion-free up to four...
