Friday, August 7, 2009

Follicular NHL Q & A

Interesting piece from CancerWise Blogger, who blogs for M.D. Anderson Hospital in Houston (possibly the premier hospital for NHL -- lots of folks from the support group go there when they just don't know what else to do). The piece is called "Follicular Lymphoma Q & A," and it's basically an interview with Dr. Fredrick Hagemeister, an NHL specialist at Anderson. The entry includes some text questions and answers, plus an 8 minute video where Hagemeister elaborates on some of his answers.

It doesn't really present anything new about fNHL, at least not if you're steeped in the research (and I assume regular readers of Lympho Bob pretty much are), but it's a nice summary of the disease, and there are a few highlights. (Plus a lot of plugs for M.D. Anderson, which is fine, since it's from their blog.)

A few things Hagemeister says that struck me:

  • He thinks that agents that will come to market in the next 2-3 years will have a big impact on fNHL patients' management of the disease and their overall survival. He didn't mention specific treatments, but he seemed to lump them with Rituxin, so I assume he's talking about other monoclonal antibodies, some humanized and/or targeting proteins other than CD20.
  • He implies that there is so much new stuff coming out about treatments for NHL, especially for indolent lymphomas like fNHL, that some oncologists can't keep up with it. I found that fascinating, given what the lymphoma specialist at Yale told me when I saw him a few days after diagnosis: "Everything you read online is already out of date." I can see how a generalist oncologist would have a hard time keeping up. (They need one of those nice academic jobs like I have. That, and a little less sleep.)
  • He talks some about the Tissue Bank at M.D. Anderson, where researchers are trying to keep samples of biopsies from lymphoma patients, plus blood and bone marrow samples. They plan to use it for future research. Sounds great to me.

It's a nice video, though not nearly as funny as the "The Money Mobile"....

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