Articles

The role of venetoclax in the current treatment paradigm for patients with acute myeloid leukaemia

BJH - volume 13, issue 3, may 2022

D.A. Breems MD, PhD

SUMMARY

With the publication of improved survival results of previously untreated patients with acute myeloid leukaemia ineligible for intensive chemotherapy treated with the combination of venetoclax and a hypomethylating agent, the treatment paradigm for patients with AML has been changed. This paper discusses the past, present and future of AML therapy with venetoclax.

(BELG J HEMATOL 2022;13(3):124–7)

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Acute myeloid leukaemia in first relapse

BJH - volume 6, issue 5, december 2015

D.A. Breems MD, PhD, B. Löwenberg MD, PhD

Summary

Relapse is the most prevalent cause of treatment failure and death in patients with acute myeloid leukaemia. Because only a minority of patients who experience relapse will derive durable benefit from current reinduction and salvage therapy, prognostic factors and predictive models have been developed. Achievement of a second complete remission and the application of salvage allogeneic stem cell transplantation represent crucial objectives for reaching long-term disease-free survival and improving the prognosis of patients with acute myeloid leukaemia in first relapse. Combination chemotherapy schedules that include high-dose cytarabine are frequently used in therapeutic efforts of attaining a second complete remission. In relapsed acute myeloid leukaemia with poor risk genetic features or those with early relapse after previous exposure to high-dose cytarabine, investigational drugs may be the preferred choice. The search for improved treatment with novel agents in clinical trials represents an active area of research.

(BELG J HEMATOL 2015;6(5):182–7)

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