Oral and chemotherapeutic leukemia therapy: the hematologist hails from Camerino



[ad_1]

of Agnese Testadiferro

Chemotherapy-free therapy for elderly patients with previously untreated chronic lymphatic leukemia. The approval of treatment with Ibrutinib as a first-line treatment is expected shortly in Italy. The announcement on the occasion of the 23rd Congress of the European Association of Hematology (EHA) was made in Stockholm. Among the researchers also the hematologist Dr. Alessandra Tedeschi, linked to the March and her Camerino where she lived until her maturity and today, as medical director, in the Division of Dermatology. Hematology of the Metropolitan Grand Hospital Niguarda Milano. [19659003] A better quality of life
Ibrutinib is a selective oral inhibitor, first in the clbad of Bruton Tirosin Kinase (Btk), whose survival increases thanks to an action mechanism that blocks the proliferation of leukemic cells. Long-term data from the Phase III Resonate-2 trial demonstrate that the drug, after a median follow-up of 4 years, reduces by 87% the risk of disease progression or death. "In the Resonate-2 study – explains Dr. Alessandra Tedeschi, participant in the clinical protocol – patients aged 65 or older were recruited with features that could not support standard chemo-based immunotherapy. fludarabine, cyclophosphamide and rituximab (Fcr), characterized by good efficacy but hardly tolerated by the elderly because of side effects.Ibrutinib has proven to be an effective drug, regardless of the characteristics of the tumor , significantly increasing patient survival and improving quality of life.In addition, unlike chemo immunotherapy, it is an orally administered drug, easily administered by the patient at home .

Oral Therapy Without Chemotherapy
Chronic Lymphatic Leukemia, LLC, is an indolent type B cell neoplasm in which the age at diagnosis is stic is on average over 70 years old and the start of treatment is about 75 years old. In Italy, there are about 3000 new cases a year, with a slightly higher incidence among men. Ibrutinib is already available on the front line only for high-risk patients. "This means that today about 90% of patients do not have the opportunity to receive an innovative drug, not chemotherapeutic and oral, such as hybridutinib – explains Prof. Paolo Ghia, Program Strategic Research Center on the LLC, Division of Experimental Oncology at San Raffaele Hospital in Milan – With the indication arriving in Italy, the first-line use of this treatment can be extended to the elderly patient, whereas it is a pathology whose median age is 72 years old. The availability, even on the front line, of this "targeted and" smart drug "represents a real change in the therapeutic algorithm," explains Prof. Robin Foà, Department of Cellular Biotechnology and Hematology of the US. Sapienza University of Rome.

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

[ad_2]
Source link