Many Great Treatments Available for MCL But Questions About Sequencing Remain, Expert Says

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In a conversation during the 2022 American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting, an expert from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, spoke to how treatments have improved for patients with mantle cell lymphoma.

Survival has extended significantly over the years for patients with mantle cell lymphoma as treatments have evolved, but questions around sequencing still remain, according to Hun Ju Lee, MD.

In a conversation with CancerNetwork® during the 2022 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting, Lee, an assistant professor of medicine in the Department of Lymphoma and Myeloma at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, also highlighted the importance of shared decision making when treating this patient population.

Transcript:

Historically, when I was starting off, median overall survival for mantle cell lymphoma was three years. Now, it's [somewhere between] 25 to 30 years given the treatment options. There are so many great treatment options. [As to] how we sequence them is still a key question. Which should come first, and which should come after that?

That is really going to incorporate not just the physicians and the oncologist, but you'll need the patient’s input as to what [adverse] effects they are willing to accept. I recognize the risk is taken by the patient, so they really need to be informed of the of the subtleties of the risk that is involved in selecting treatment options.

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