ASH News Daily - Sunday, December 11, 2011 - (Page A-1)

Celebrating 10 Years ASH NEWS DAILY 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology ® Issue 2, Section A Sunday, December 11, 2011 San Diego, CA Visit us at www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ashnewsdaily2011_Sunday/ Schedule 7:00 – 8:00 a.m. Grassroots Network Breakfast Hilton San Diego Bayfront Aqua 308 7:00 – 9:00 a.m. Hematology Course Directors’ Workshop Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego Randle Ballroom AB 9:30 – 11:00 a.m. ASH/ASCO Joint Symposium San Diego Marriot Marquis & Marina Marriot Hall 11:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. Meet-the-Expert Sessions (ticketed sessions) 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. ASH/EHA Joint Symposium San Diego Convention Center Hall AB 1:30 – 2:00 p.m. Announcement of Awards San Diego Convention Center Hall AB 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. Plenary Scientific Session San Diego Convention Center Hall AB 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. Poster Hall Reception San Diego Convention Center Hall GH 6:15 – 7:15 p.m. Blood and Beyond: Searching the Scientific Literature Online San Diego Convention Center Room 26A 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. The HVO Volunteer Experience Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego Randle Ballroom A IN THIS SECTION Raising Awareness for Global Vaccines A-5 Clinically Complex Clotting Questions A-6 Another Meth Lab That Needs to Be Shut Down A-12 What’s New in Aggressive NonHodgkin Lymphomas? A-14 Insights From Sickle Cell Disease Clinical Trials: More Questions Than Answers? By aManda BRandow, do, MS, and Julie PanePinto, Md, MSPh S ickle cell disease (SCD) was first described 101 years ago. A century later, the tremendous challenge for scientists and clini- cians is gaining a full understanding of the extensive and phenotypically variable organ pathology that this single amino acid substitution causes and how to diagnostically and therapeutically manage the clinical manifestations of SCD. Much insight into these issues has been gained through clinical research. The Education Program session titled “Recent High-Impact Clinical Trials in Sickle Cell Disease: Where Do They Leave the Field?” held yesterday and again today at 7:30 a.m. in San Diego Ballroom AB (San Diego Marriott Marquis) reviewed the findings of recent SCD clinical trials and how these trials have impacted patient management. The lung is a target organ in Dr. Peter Carmeliet delivers the Ham-Wasserman Lecture with ASH President J. Evan Sadler looking on. MULTIPLE MYELOMA Chocolate, Vanilla, or Both? Making Choices in Myeloma By Michael RoSenzweig, Md, and heatheR landau, Md W ith an explosion of new, effective agents for treating multiple myeloma, it is now one of the most exciting and dynamic fields in hematology. But like a child who struggles in an ice cream shop with too many choices – chocolate or vanilla, rainbow or chocolate sprinkles, hot fudge sauce, whipped cream, or both – too many choices can be unsettling; choices in myeloma include doublet versus triplet induction, stem cell transplant or continued therapy, consolidation, maintenance? In the Education Program session titled “Controversies and Updates in Multiple Myeloma,” Dr. Donna Reece from Princess Margaret Hos- pital in Toronto, Canada, elegantly presented an enormous body of work and attempted to guide physicians with her focus on the results of phase III trials. She discussed the difficulty discerning the benefit of each component of therapy and each individual agent when multi-agent pre-transplant induction, high-dose therapy, and post-transplant consolidation and/or maintenance are evaluated in the context of a single trial. However, clearly with the incorporation of proteosome inhibitors and immune modulatory agents into induction and maintenance therapy, PFS and OS continue to increase and are nearing three years and over six years, respectively. The modest increase in secondary malignancies with maintenance therapy was addressed by Dr. Reece who asserted that the reported risks need to be interpreted with caution as the EFS analysis suggests that the risk of progressive myeloma outweighs the risk of secondary cancer. She proposed that further investigation to identify patients at highest risk of developing malignancies and the patients most likely to benefit is essential. In the second part of the session, Dr. Sergio Giralt, Memorial Sloan- »» CHOICES Page A-2 Please see page 6 for more information on today’s presentation of the Wallace H. Coulter Award. SCD. Thus, Dr. Kathryn Hassell from University of Colorado Denver Health Sciences Center recommends the evaluation of any SCD patient with cardiopulmonary symptoms for pulmonary hypertension by looking for an elevated tricuspid regurgitation velocity (TRV) via echocardiography and confirmation by right heart catheterization. However, Dr. Hassell stated, “TRV is not yet validated »» SICKLE CELL Page A-4 https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ashnewsdaily2011_Sunday/

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ASH News Daily - Sunday, December 11, 2011

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