Hematologic Oncology

Francesco Lo-Coco, MD, Hematology, University Tor Vergata, discusses a new emerging treatment, arsenic trioxide (ATO), in acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL).

Several updates highlighted at the 2012 American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting as well as other developments.

Michelle A. Fanale, MD, from the MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the potential of antibody-drug conjugates, as a new category of therapy for patients with cancer.

Francesco Lo-Coco, MD, Hematology, University Tor Vergata, discusses a new emerging treatment, arsenic trioxide, in acute promyelocytic leukemia.

James R. Berenson, MD, discusses a phase I/II study of pomalidomide, dexamethasone and pegylated liposomal doxorubicin for patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

Jorge E. Cortes, MD, Department of Leukemia, University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the use of ponatinib as initial therapy for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia.

The first set of results from a phase III clinical trial found that obinutuzumab plus chlorambucil chemotherapy significantly improved PFS in patients with CLL.

Michelle A. Fanale, MD, Associate Professor, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the role of brentuximab vedotin as frontline treatment of systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma.

Research from the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center suggests that chlorambucil may be better than fludarabine in treating older patients with CLL, and that rituximab is beneficial regardless of age.

John C. Byrd, MD, director of the division of hematology at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses the role of Bruton's Tyrosine Kinase (BTK) in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Harry Erba, MD, PhD, discusses the results of a phase II study analyzing azacitidine and gemtuzumab ozogamicin as induction and post-remission therapy in patients of age 60 and older with previously untreated non-M3 AML.

Sundar Jagannath, MD, Director, Multiple Myeloma Program, The Tisch Cancer Institute at The Mount Sinai Medical Center, details the advances in life expectancy for patients with multiple myeloma.

Tal Zaks, MD, PhD, Sanofi Oncology, details a phase II randomized study of the JAK2 inhibitor SAR302503 in patients with intermediate-2 or high-risk primary myelofibrosis (MF), post-polycythemia vera MF, or post-essential thrombocythemia MF.

Richard R. Furman, MD, from the Weill Cornell Medical Center, discusses the safety profile of the oral BTK inhibitor ibrutinib in both relapsed/refractory and treatment naive patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Philip L. McCarthy, MD, Director, Blood & Marrow Transplant Program, Department of Medicine, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, explains the factors that determine patient tolerability to allogeneic bone marrow transplant.

Smita Bhatia, MD, MPH, Population Sciences, City of Hope, Duarte, California, explains a clinical trial analyzing genetic susceptibility to anthracycline-related congestive heart failure in survivors of hematopoietic cell transplantation.

Brian J. Druker, MD, one of the pioneering researchers who discovered imatinib, has maintained his focus on finding new and better treatments for CML and other leukemias.

Michelle A. Fanale, MD, from the MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses a phase I trial that examined the frontline administration of brentuximab vedotin for patients with subtypes of lymphoma.

Brian G. M. Durie, MD, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Senior Advisor, Hematologic Malignancies, National Program Director, Multiple Myeloma and Related Disorders for Aptium Oncology, discusses novel therapies for multiple myeloma.

Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD, PhD, from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, explains the impact that rituximab has made in the treatment of patients with non-Hodgkin and B-cell lymphomas.

The FDA approved 11 new hematology-oncology drugs in 2012.

Francisco Cervantes, MD, PhD, Hospital Clinic, IDIBAPS, Barcelona, Spain, discusses the initial and long-term findings of the COMFORT-II trial of ruxolitib for the treatment of myelofibrosis.

Recent advances in the characterization of the molecular genetic defects underlying AML, as well as in novel formulations of therapies, are offering hope for improved outcomes.

We have come a long way from the microscope of Galileo, but questions remain in actual practice about how close we need to get to help our patients.

Timothy P. Hughes, MD, MBBS, explains the two-year follow-up results of the ENESTcmr trial analyzing the switch to nilotinib after at least 2 years on imatinib in patients with chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia.