M. Hossein Kazemi, MD, medical oncologist and hematologist, Astera Cancer Care, discusses the benefits of de-escalating treatment for patients with multiple myeloma.
It is important the patient with multiple myeloma has a clear and comphrensive understanding of de-escalating treatment, said M. Hossein Kazemi, medical oncologist and hematologist, Astera Cancer Care.
What are the benefits of de-escalating patients?
Right now, in absence of the prospective trials of deciding length of maintenance, based on [minimal residual disease] MRD, right now, one really important factor that I look at is basically, how much of a burden the maintenance is or pressure is on patients’ lives. And especially for elderly patients, even just single agent [lenalidomide] Revlimid, even at lower doses, a lot of times, it's not a completely trivial thing for a patient to take.
Patients still clearly say in terms of energy, how well they are able to digest food. The off week from Revlimid is clearly different from the 3 weeks that they are on. So that's certainly a factor, the quality of life. That’s the main factor for concern.
Also very importantly, that question at some point becomes, if the patient really needs it or not. For example, I had a patient a few months back that has been that had been on maintenance for over 8 years. And we did a bone marrow biopsy, MRD negative, and the patient has come off maintenance and he’s his last clinic visit, he has been very, very happy that he's not taking Revlimid any longer.
Risk for Second Primary Melanoma Increases After Primary Melanoma Diagnosis as Men Age
March 28th 2024A population-based cohort study out of Norway has found that older men have a higher risk of developing second primary invasive melanoma following an initial primary melanoma, suggesting the benefits of increased surveillance in these patients.
Read More
Exploring Medicare Advantage Prior Authorization Variations
March 26th 2024On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with the authors of a study published in the March 2024 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® about their findings on variations in prior authorization use across Medicare Advantage plans.
Listen
Navigating Health Literacy, Social Determinants, and Discrimination in National Health Plans
February 13th 2024On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with the authors of a study published in the February 2024 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® about their findings on how health plans can screen for health literacy, social determinants of health, and perceived health care discrimination.
Listen
Poor Well-Being Scores Linked to Early Treatment Stoppage in Multiple Myeloma
March 27th 2024Investigators used the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General General Physical Wellbeing Scale to collect data on patient-reported treatment-related adverse effects, to provide clinicians guidance on predicting risk of early treatment discontinuation among ECOG-ACRIN E1A11 trial participants.
Read More