A combination of carfilzomib, dexamethasone, and daratumumab for treatment of adult patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma in two dosing regimens: once-weekly and twice-weekly.

Despite the development of new therapeutic agents, relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM) is associated with poor survival outcomes. Furthermore, many patients develop resistance to immunomodulatory drugs (IMiD), creating a need for IMiD-free regimens. Areas covered: This review focuses on the combination of carfilzomib, dexamethasone, and daratumumab (KdD or DKd) which has shown promising results in patients with RRMM who have tried multiple lines of therapy, and has been approved in the U.

Carfilzomib, dexamethasone, and daratumumab in Asian patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma: post hoc subgroup analysis of the phase 3 CANDOR trial.

Background: Due to increasing use of frontline lenalidomide, effective and safe lenalidomide-free therapies for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM) are needed in Asia. This subgroup analysis of phase 3 CANDOR study evaluated efficacy and safety of KdD vs Kd in Asian patients with RRMM.

Methods: Self-identified Asian patients with RRMM (KdD = 46; Kd = 20) with 1‒3 prior therapies were included.

Lung clearance index in children with sickle cell disease.

Introduction: The lung clearance index (LCI) derived from the multiple breath washout test (MBW), is both feasible and sensitive to early lung disease detection in young children with cystic fibrosis and asthma. The utility of LCI has not been studied in children with sickle cell disease (SCD). We hypothesized that children with SCD, with or without asthma or airway hyperreactivity (AHR), would have an elevated LCI compared to healthy controls.

Efficacy and safety of weekly carfilzomib (70 mg/m), dexamethasone, and daratumumab (KdD70) is comparable to twice-weekly KdD56 while being a more convenient dosing option: a cross-study comparison of the CANDOR and EQUULEUS studies.

The regimen of carfilzomib, daratumumab, and dexamethasone (KdD) shows activity in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. KdD at the twice-weekly 56 mg/m carfilzomib dose (KdD56) was used in the randomized phase 3 CANDOR study (NCT03158688), whereas KdD at the once-weekly 70 mg/m carfilzomib dose (KdD70) was used in the phase 1 b EQUULEUS study (NCT01998971). We analyzed efficacy data from comparable CANDOR and EQUULEUS patients using inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW)-adjusted models.

Review of the patient-centered communication landscape in multiple myeloma and other hematologic malignancies.

Objectives: To identify factors limiting and facilitating patient-centered communication (PCC) in the United States hematology-oncology setting, with a focus on multiple myeloma (MM), given the limited attention to PCC and rapid pace of change that has taken place in this setting.

Methods: A literature search was performed from 2007 to 2017 to identify published articles and congress abstracts related to clinician-patient communication and treatment decision-making in oncology. Search results were evaluated by year of publication and disease area.

Dietary nonheme iron is equally bioavailable from ferritin or ferrous sulfate in thalassemia intermedia.

Unlabelled: Transfusion-independent patients with thalassemia intermedia (TI) develop fatal iron overload from excessive iron absorption triggered by ineffective erythropoiesis. More information about iron pharmacokinetics and nonheme, dietary iron absorption in such patients is needed to optimize management. To obtain more information, different forms of supplemental nonheme iron sources (ferritin and ferrous sulfate) were compared in 4 TI (hemoglobin <9 g/dL) and 6 control (hemoglobin 12-16 g/dL) patients.

Fever at Diagnosis of Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: Are Antibiotics Really Necessary?

Introduction: With new multidrug-resistant microbes and the paucity of new antibacterial agents, we must identify opportunities to safely minimize antibiotics. Current guidelines encourage empiric antibiotics in febrile patients with chemotherapy-induced neutropenia to reduce infection-related mortalities. No guidelines exist for children with isolated fever at presentation/diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and before starting chemotherapy.

Risk for CMV reactivation in children undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Tailoring pre-emptive CMV therapy to hematopoietic cell transplant recipients' risk for reactivation could make this approach more cost-effective. To determine the feasibility of creating a risk classification system for this purpose, we analyzed 169 pediatric HCTs involving seropositive recipients or donors. Using risk factors derived from multivariable analysis, we stratified patients as having no risk factors, any one, any two, or all three risk factors (age, donor type, and presence of GVHD).