Nirav Niranjan Shah, MD, of the Medical College of Wisconsin, explores whether autologous transplantation, in patients with relapsed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma who achieve only a PET/CT-positive partial remission, is appropriate in the era of CAR T-cell therapy (Abstract 8000).
Mikkael A. Sekeres, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic, discusses data from a phase II study of pevonedistat plus azacitidine vs azacitidine alone in patients with higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes, chronic myelomonocytic leukemia, or low-blast acute myeloid leukemia (Abstract 7506).
Professor Lourdes Gil Deza, of the Instituto Oncológico Henry Moore, Buenos Aires, discusses her findings on the shortcomings of medical training when it comes to treating transgender patients, and the need to deepen clinical and communication skills to assist this population (Abstract 11002).
Nancy U. Lin, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses the HER2CLIMB study of patients with previously treated HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer that had metastasized to the brain. Adding tucatinib to trastuzumab and capecitabine doubled the intracranial response rate and reduced the risk of death by nearly half, compared with trastuzumab plus capecitabine (Abstract 1005).
Parameswaran Hari, MD, of the Medical College of Wisconsin, discusses phase III data from a 6-year follow-up of the STaMINA trial, which compared progression-free survival among 758 patients with high-risk multiple myeloma who received a second autologous transplant and lenalidomide maintenance; consolidation with lenalidomide, bortezomib, and dexamethasone followed by lenalidomide maintenance; or lenalidomide maintenance alone (Abstract 8506).
As Thomas Powles, MD, PhD, of Queen Mary University of London, prepares to deliver his late-breaking presentation at the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program (LBA-1), he talks with Christopher Sweeney, MBBS, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, about current therapy: PD1/PDL1 inhibition in second-line treatment and as monotherapy in the first-line setting, as well as the concept of maintenance switch.
