Final Thoughts on AML and ALL

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Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a relatively uncommon disease, Jeffrey Lancet, MD, states. Given its rarity, more individuals with AML should enroll in clinical trials in order to advance care.

The increasing use of minimal residual disease assessment to identify individuals with high-risk B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) may provide benefit for patients in a disease that has been stalled in the adult setting for so many years, comments Mark R. Litzow, MD.

Dan Douer, MD, adds that novel treatment modalities that harness the patient’s own immune system rather than a donor’s immune system lie in the future of ALL management.

Raoul Tibes, MD, recommends that future practice include intensified pediatric regimens in young adults and incorporate new targeted therapies, such as blinatumomab, to achieve longer remissions.