Identifying Patients Requiring Intensive Surveillance Following CRC Resection
August 27th 2025Experts discuss how postoperative surveillance after colorectal cancer surgery is increasingly personalized by integrating pathologic staging, surgical quality, and ctDNA testing to adjust monitoring intensity, with higher-risk or uncertain cases receiving more aggressive follow-up to optimize early detection and intervention.
Clinical Perspectives in Current and Emerging CAR T Therapies for Early R/R MM
August 27th 2025Panelists discuss how current chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T therapies for early relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (R/R MM) include both ciltacabtagene autoleucel (cilta-cel) and idecabtagene vicleucel (ide-cel), both targeting the B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA), with cilta-cel showing superior outcomes in second-line patients compared with ide-cel’s performance in third- and fourth-line settings. They also emphasize that regardless of which CAR T is used, both significantly outperform standard-of-care treatments. Looking toward the future, emerging CAR T therapies are targeting new antigens like GPRC5D on myeloma cells, with phase 2 clinical trials already enrolling patients whose disease returned after initial CAR T treatment, offering hope for sequential CAR T approaches as the field moves toward increasingly immunotherapy-focused treatment strategies.
A Clinical Overview of the CARTITUDE-4 Trial for Cilta-Cel CAR T Therapy in Early R/R MM
August 27th 2025Panelists discuss how the CARTITUDE-4 clinical trial demonstrated that ciltacabtagene autoleucel (cilta-cel) chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy significantly outperformed standard-of-care treatments in patients with early relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (R/R MM), showing higher response rates, complete remission rates, and deeper minimal residual disease (MRD)-negative remissions while also providing superior quality of life with treatment breaks vs continuous therapy requirements, and, most importantly, becoming the first therapy in this patient population to demonstrate improved overall survival and actually prolong life.
How Postoperative ctDNA Results Influence Treatment Decisions Following CRC Resection
August 27th 2025Experts discuss the pivotal role of ctDNA in postoperative colorectal cancer care, using it alongside pathology and staging to personalize recurrence risk assessment and guide adjuvant therapy decisions, particularly in nuanced cases where ctDNA results and clinical risk factors may not align.
Managing Bispecific Toxicities: Proactive Strategies for CRS and Infections
August 25th 2025An expert explains that while bispecific antibodies show strong efficacy in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, optimizing their safety—through step-up dosing, infection prophylaxis, immunoglobulin support, and early symptom management—is essential to minimizing toxicity and expanding access to this promising treatment class.
Treatment Options and Patient Counseling at Disease Progression in IDH-Mutant Gliomas
August 22nd 2025Panelists discuss how to manage slow FLAIR progression by initiating IDH inhibitor therapy, emphasizing the importance of setting patient expectations about tumor volume reduction and addressing special considerations for patients of childbearing age.
Case-Based Approach to Initial Treatment Planning for IDH-Mutant Gliomas
August 22nd 2025Panelists discuss how to counsel a 38-year-old patient with excellent surgical outcome about treatment options, weighing the benefits of early IDH inhibitor therapy against watchful waiting while considering individual patient factors and goals.
Communicating the Risk of Disease Relapse to the Patient After Curative CRC Resection
August 20th 2025Experts discuss how initial postoperative visits after colorectal cancer surgery integrate pathology review, recurrence risk assessment, and timely ctDNA testing to personalize prognosis and guide surveillance, emphasizing the importance of surgical quality indicators and molecular tools in shaping follow-up care.
The Oncology Surgeon’s Role in Postoperative Surveillance Following CRC Resection
August 20th 2025Experts discuss how postsurgical surveillance for colorectal cancer varies by setting, with multidisciplinary teams leading coordinated care in academic centers, whereas surgeons in rural or resource-limited areas often take on expanded roles to ensure follow-up and monitoring are not compromised.
Patient Perspectives: Response and Adverse Effects to CAR T in R/R MM
August 20th 2025Panelists discuss how patients typically respond well to chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy with manageable adverse effects (AEs), including expected cytokine release syndrome (CRS) presenting as fever, whereas rare neurotoxicity is closely monitored through frequent cognitive testing and treated with steroids and late immune system effects like urinary tract infections (UTIs), respiratory infections, and shingles occur in the first 6 months post treatment but resolve with appropriate medications and prophylactic treatments, with outcomes improving significantly when CAR T is used earlier in treatment lines rather than after patients have exhausted all other options.
Karen's Advice: What Every MM Patient Should Know
August 20th 2025Panelists discuss how patients with multiple myeloma can achieve excellent quality of life with bispecific therapies like talquetamab despite manageable adverse effects, with Karen sharing her advice to embrace treatment opportunities, accept a "new normal," and focus on the meaningful life experiences these innovative therapies enable, including her recent trip to Italy and time with 6 grandchildren she wouldn't have met without these advancing treatments.
Nursing Perspectives on Ensuring Patient Success for CAR T Therapy in R/R MM
August 20th 2025Panelists discuss how nursing support for chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy success involves providing comprehensive educational materials covering everything from collection to survivorship, conducting virtual CAR T classes, and adapting to new outpatient CAR T protocols where patients receive cells and go home with vital sign monitoring equipment for caregivers. The panelists also celebrate recent FDA regulatory changes that reduced required stay times from 4 weeks to 2 weeks and driving restrictions from 8 weeks to 2 weeks, making CAR T therapy more accessible by allowing patients to return to work and normal life sooner, with reduced financial burden on families.
Exploring Bispecific Combinations: REDIRECTT ASCO 2025 Highlights
August 18th 2025An expert discusses that combining the bispecific antibodies teclistamab and talquetamab has shown promising efficacy and manageable toxicity in heavily pretreated multiple myeloma patients—including those with extramedullary disease—offering a compelling dual-targeted option for high-risk cases while allowing flexibility in sequencing for slower-progressing disease.
Recent Research and Future Directions in IDH-Mutant Gliomas
August 15th 2025Panelists discuss how voracidinib shows superior brain penetration compared to other IDH inhibitors and explore exciting combination approaches with immunotherapy and vaccines that target the immunosuppressive effects of 2-HG in the tumor microenvironment.
Monitoring and Managing Adverse Events With IDH Inhibitors
August 15th 2025Panelists discuss how to implement hepatotoxicity monitoring protocols, counsel patients about avoiding hepatotoxic substances, and manage the infrequent but manageable liver enzyme elevations that typically occur within the first 6 months of treatment.
Bispecifics in R/R MM: Key Takeaways
Panelists discuss how their key takeaways emphasize the importance of communication and collaboration between academic centers and community practices to ensure equitable access to bispecific therapies, highlighting that it’s an exciting time in myeloma treatment with patient-friendly options that can be administered closer to home, and concluding that virtually no patient should be denied exposure to bispecific therapy before discontinuing treatment, while anticipating that de-escalated Q4 weekly schedules and trispecific agents will transform current practice patterns in the coming years.