Hagop M. Kantarjian, MD of MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX discusses the new era of treatment for elderly acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients at the International Symposium on Acute Leukemias (ISAL) 2017 in Munich, Germany. Up until the 80s, some leukemia experts argued that it is not worth treating elderly AML patients due to modest survival prolongation and low cure rates. Today, even among patients who cannot receive intensive chemotherapy, there are options including epigenetic therapy with azacitidine or decitabine, combinations with monoclonal antibodies such as venetoclax, and checkpoint inhibitors. According to Prof. Kantarjian these new strategies mean that we are entering a new era of low intensity therapy and targeted and immunomodulatory therapies that mean we can cure more elderly AML patients with less side effects.

Prof. Charles Craddock of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, UK, describes each treatment traditionally used for the management of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and its average length.
Recorded at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) 2015 Annual Meeting in Orlando, FL.

This programme has been supported by Pfizer, through an unrestricted educational grant to the Patient Empowerment Foundation.

This medical animation illustrates how acute myeloid leukemia (AML), the most common type of cancer in adults, develops in the blood and bone marrow. The narrator also discusses the symptoms of AML and AML treatment options.

Dr. Eytan M. Stein, Hematologic Oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center discusses the current state of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), the importance of testing for genetic mutations, and the emergence of targeted treatments. He is joined by Shirley, a patient living with IDH1-mutated AML.

#BloodCancerAwareness

Eytan M. Stein
Associate Attending Physician
Director, Program for Drug Development in Leukemia

Leukemia Service, Department of Medicine
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
New York, New York

Eytan M. Stein, MD is an Associate Attending Physician, Clinical Investigator and Director of the Program for Drug Development in Leukemia on the Leukemia Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He conducts novel, phase I clinical trials of compounds that target the genetic and epigenetic basis of myeloid malignancies. Dr. Stein led the clinical studies of the IDH2 inhibitor Enasidenib and the IDH1 Inhibitor Ivosidenib in patients with relapsed and refractory AML that led to their FDA approval in 2017 and 2018, respectively. He also leads a variety of phase 1 clinical trials and serves as the lead investigator at Memorial Sloan Kettering for the BEAT AML master clinical trial. His current research focuses on elucidating mechanisms of resistance to IDH inhibitors and the use of Menin inhibitors in patients with MLL-rearranged acute leukemia. His work has been published in journals such as Nature, Nature Medicine, The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA Oncology, Cancer Discovery and Blood. In addition, he serves on the Editorial Boards of Blood and Leukemia and Lymphoma.

What is acute leukemia? It is a condition in which the hematopoietic stem cells in the body become abnormal and ac****ulate in the bone marrow and blood serum. Acute leukemia can be split into two types: myeloid or lymphoblastic. This depends on the lineage of the hematopoietic stem cell. This video discusses the pathophysiology and major clinical signs and symptoms.