Amir T. Fathi, MD

“As of now, there is no standard of care for a maintenance strategy in acute myeloid leukemia (AML),” said Amir T. Fathi, MD, Director of the Leukemia Program at Massachusetts General Hospital and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston. “Maintenance therapy is being studied after remission is achieved following high-dose chemotherapy or after transplant, with the hope of keeping patients in remission. [The HOVON97] study adds to the body of literature suggesting that maintenance therapy may reduce the risk of relapse in AML or high-grade myelodysplastic syndrome.” 

He continued: “The take-home message, in my view, is the results of this study are not sufficiently definitive to be practice-changing. Nevertheless, they do provide some suggestion that maintenance therapy may be of benefit, but larger more convincing studies are needed,” Dr. Fathi stated. ■

DISCLOSURE: Dr. Fathi reported no conflicts of interest.