ASH News Daily - Sunday, December 11, 2011 - (Page A-19)

Sunday, December 11, 2011 Hodgkin «« From Page A-2 prompted clinicians to investigate ways of identifying tools for riskadapted therapy. Interim FDG-PET has been proven to predict treatment outcome in more than 90 percent of Non-Hodgkin «« From Page A-14 also occur. The overall survival for patients with primary refractory disease is dismal, but even for patients with late relapses, the prognosis is poor. “Autologous bone marrow transplant remains the standard approach in patients who respond to salvage therapy, but the major question is which salvage regimens are the best prior to transplant,” Dr. Friedberg said. Alternatively, for patients with chemo-refractory disease, or those who are not eligible for transplant, an increasing number of alternative treatments are becoming available. Dr. Friedberg will review some of the new developments in targeted therapies for aggressive lymphomas and the potential role of rationally designed combinations with a number of novel agents. The significant challenge for future studies is how to incorporate these novel therapies into the more standard chemotherapy regimens and how to apply the improved knowledge of the different biologic characteristics in the design of personalized treatments. Lastly, there will be time for T cells. Dr. Kerry Savage, British Columbia Cancer Agency, will conclude this session by reviewing current challenges in the treatment of peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCLs). She will discuss the suboptimal results achieved in most cases with frontline therapy and the controversial role of transplantation as a consolidation modality after induction. The hope for a brighter future relies on the increasing number of agents that have been tested in PTCLs and the promising results achieved. A number of new agents have been recently approved for the treatment of recurrent disease, including pralatrexate, romidepsin, and most recently brentuximab vedotin for patients with the anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL) subtype. Ongoing trials are now exploring the feasibility of incorporating these novel agents into frontline strategies. Early results of a phase Ib/II dose escalation trial of romidepsin in combination with CHOP will be presented in the Poster session today from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Dr. Pro receives honoraria from Cel- gene and Allos and research funds from Seattle Genetics. 729US11AB06601.indd 1 10/31/11 4:16 PM ASH NEWS DAILY HL patients. Dr. Joseph Connors, British Columbia Cancer Agency, will review the emergent data on the use of PET in HL. “There are five possible roles for PET in HL for staging, response assessment, treatment modification, assessment prior to autologous stem cell transplant, and post-treatment follow-up,” Dr. Connors said. The use of PET scanning can lead to an improvement of radiation field design; however, “Caution in staging is the magic of stage migration,” he added. To date, there are no data to support the role of PET scan in altering treatment in patients with advanced HL. With regard to the use of PET scan after comple- tion of treatment, the major problem is the rate of false positivity. “Even a modest false positive rate in this setting can markedly increase the risk of unnecessary procedures,” Dr. Connors concluded. Radiation therapy remains an im- portant treatment modality in earlystage HL. However, radiotherapy has been historically associated with significant risks of toxicities and second malignancies. The last presenter, Dr. David Hodgson, Princess Margaret Hospital, will address the current role of radiation therapy in HL. He will focus his presentation on the most recent technological advances in the delivery and planning Page A–19 ® of radiation therapy and how the recent modifications are expected to translate into lower rates of radiotherapy-induced toxicities. “Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) can significantly reduce the volume of tissue receiving the prescribed dose, and volume reduction appears to translate into reduction of second malignancies,” Dr. Hodgson said. He concluded the session by explaining that individualization of treatment will become more and more important as we move forward in this complex disease. Dr. Pro indicated no relevant conflicts of interest. While at the Convention Center, Please Visit Us at Booth #2405 December 10-12, San Diego, CA visit www.sprycel.com © 2011 Bristol-Myers Squibb Printed in U.S.A. 729US11AB06601 9/11

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ASH News Daily - Sunday, December 11, 2011

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