Medical Oncology
Physician insights on cancer treatment protocols, immunotherapy, targeted therapies, and clinical trial updates.
Recent Discussions
Would you offer adjuvant therapy for patients with resected NSCLC <3 cm with visceral pleural involvement and no lymph node involvement?
The short answer is "no", I do not typically recommend adjuvant systemic therapy or radiotherapy for people with completely resected, small (<3 cm) T2aN0M0, stage IIA NSCLC.The NCCN guidelines state that "adjuvant chemotherapy is recommended for high-risk features" in people with resected stage IB o...
How do you manage persistent cytopenias in patients with AML who achieve a complete remission with incomplete count recovery after venetoclax and HMA?
This is an important question. How to manage cytopenias on HMA + venetoclax-based regimens is one of the biggest conundrums in the management of AML. The clinical trials to date have not uniformly answered this question based on level 1 evidence. These recommendations are mainly based on anecdotal d...
How do you manage persistent cytopenias in patients with AML who achieve a complete remission with incomplete count recovery after venetoclax and HMA?
This is an important question. How to manage cytopenias on HMA + venetoclax-based regimens is one of the biggest conundrums in the management of AML. The clinical trials to date have not uniformly answered this question based on level 1 evidence. These recommendations are mainly based on anecdotal d...
Do you routinely stop ESA when starting myelofibrosis patients on JAK inhibitor therapy?
The management of myelofibrosis with anemia is becoming increasingly nuanced, given the several JAK inhibitors available to us and the potential for add-on therapies! An excellent resource to consider regarding decision-making is Jain et al., PMID 39808793. Regarding this specific question at hand, ...
Do you routinely stop ESA when starting myelofibrosis patients on JAK inhibitor therapy?
The management of myelofibrosis with anemia is becoming increasingly nuanced, given the several JAK inhibitors available to us and the potential for add-on therapies! An excellent resource to consider regarding decision-making is Jain et al., PMID 39808793. Regarding this specific question at hand, ...
Do you use lenalidomide for patients with MDS with 5q- without other cytogenetic abnormalities but with one or more mutations on NGS?
For patients who meet the definition of del(5q) syndrome, I typically utilize lenalidomide regardless of the molecular features of the disease. The original publication (List et al., PMID 15703420), the phase III MDS-004 study (Fenaux et al., PMID 21753188), and the phase III SintraREV study (Díez-C...
Do you use lenalidomide for patients with MDS with 5q- without other cytogenetic abnormalities but with one or more mutations on NGS?
For patients who meet the definition of del(5q) syndrome, I typically utilize lenalidomide regardless of the molecular features of the disease. The original publication (List et al., PMID 15703420), the phase III MDS-004 study (Fenaux et al., PMID 21753188), and the phase III SintraREV study (Díez-C...
How do you sequence treatment for patients with HER2-mutant metastatic NSCLC?
It is a challenge that we should face with great excitement, as HER2 in lung cancer, up until recently, was EGFR’s poor sibling, as so astutely highlighted by Dr. Carbone in his recent NEJM editorial. Indeed, while we have seen dramatic changes with generations of EGFR TKIs and now combinations, suc...
How do you decide between anticoagulation and observation for an incidentally detected subsegmental pulmonary embolism in elderly patients with a history of gastrointestinal bleeding?
We face this conundrum not infrequently because subsegmental emboli are subject to high inter-reader variability, and the accuracy of the finding in isolation is suspect (Batayneh et al., Blood 2023). I once mentioned this to a radiologist who reads CTAs and was told, tactfully, that I was full of i...
Do you consider induction immunotherapy or chemoIO prior to chemoradiation for locally advanced PDL-1> 50% NSCLC if normal tissue constraints are not met?
If normal tissue constraints can't be met, or significantly higher chance of distant metastatic disease due to extensive local/regional disease, I would consider induction chemo/IO for patients with negative EGFR, ALK mutation and PD-1>1% before definitive chemo/RT in inoperable stage III NSCLC. Thi...