BJH - volume 11, issue 1, february 2020
J. Blokken PhD, PharmD, T. Feys MBA, MSc
In addition to the plethora of abstracts in the larger haematological subdomains discussed in this special issue of the BJH, ASH 2019 also featured many interesting presentations that do not fall within one of these categories. In this article we would like to address some of this ‘miscellaneous news’ from ASH 2019. In the field of venous thromboembolism (VTE), bodyweight-adjusted rivaroxaban could provide a new alternative treatment option for paediatric patients. Also with respect to VTE, the Ottawa score failed to demonstrate its predictive value for VTE recurrence in cancer patients. In addition, interesting new data were presented on the prevention of graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD) after an allogeneic transplantation. At this year’s meeting, there was also a session dedicated to disorders in the number or function of platelets in which much attention went to novel drug targets and novel drug combinations for the treatment of immune thrombocytopenia. Finally, some interesting presentations on sickle cell disease, myelofibrosis-associated anaemia and cold agglutinin disease (CAD) will be discussed in this overview.
(BELG J HEMATOL 2020;11(1):35–40)
Read moreBJH - volume 10, issue 7, november 2019
F. Vernimmen
This meeting took place in Barcelona, Spain, from 2–3rd October 2019. The Lymphoma Coalition (LC) represents lymphoma patient advocacy groups from all over the world and strives for equity in lymphoma treatment outcomes across borders. It has 82 members across 52 countries. All members are volunteers offering informational support to newly diagnosed patients, and promote communication amongst various stakeholders involved in lymphoma care in their country. The author represented the “Hodgkin en non-Hodgkin VZW” from Belgium at this international meeting.
(BELG J HEMATOL 2019;10(7):290–6)
Read moreBJH - volume 10, issue 6, october 2019
J. Blokken PhD, PharmD
On Saturday, May 25th 2019, the Belgian Hematology Society (BHS) organised the first BHS patient network meeting in Brussels. Patients with lymphoma, chronic and acute leukaemia, myeloma, sickle cell disease and myeloproliferative neoplasms, their family members and friends were all welcome. The goal of this symposium was to discuss the role of patient organisations, summarise the latest advances in treatment of the different haematological malignancies and address the affordability of health care and the role of the government. Professor Rik Schots, head of the clinical haematology department at Brussels University Hospital, introduced the patients to haematology and the work of the BHS.
(BELG J HEMATOL 2019;10(6):255–7)
Read moreBJH - volume 10, issue 5, september 2019
C. Schuermans MD
At the EHA annual meeting of 2019, interesting new data with regard to myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) were presented. For patients with high-risk myelofibrosis (MF) who have failed or are intolerant to ruxolitinib (rux) as well as for patients with higher risk MDS, the prognosis is poor and treatment options are few. There is still a large unmet medical need for these patient groups and new therapies are eagerly awaited. The same holds true for patients with advanced systemic mastocytosis (AdvSM). For this patient group very promising data about a new inhibitor of KIT D816V were presented. In contrast, most chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients have a much brighter outlook with the currently available tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) treatments and some can even stop their TKI and have a durable treatment-free remission (TFR). A short update of the DASFREE and ENESTfreedom data will be discussed below. Some CML patients however do not reach their treatment goals and are waiting for new treatment options. Also data on pregnancy outcomes in CML patients were discussed.
(BELG J HEMATOL 2019;10(5):188–94)
Read moreBJH - volume 10, issue 5, september 2019
L. Rutsaert MD, S. Anguille MD, PhD
(BELG J HEMATOL 2019;10(5):195–200)
Read moreBJH - volume 10, issue 5, september 2019
M. Delforge MD, PhD
Over the last few years, the treatment landscape for patients with multiple myeloma (MM) changed dramatically. Also the 2019 annual meeting of the European Hematology Association featured several interesting MM abstracts. In this article we will discuss 6 highlights from the meeting. For a more complete overview of MM news at EHA 2019 we would like to refer to the congress website (https://ehaweb.org/congress/previous-congresses/eha24/abstracts-online-2/).
(BELG J HEMATOL 2019;10(5):203–7)
Read moreBJH - volume 10, issue 5, september 2019
T. Feys MBA, MSc
EHA 2019 featured several eagerly awaited presentations on Hodgkin lymphoma (HL). This included 3-year follow-up data of the ECHELON-1 trial in patients with high-risk features and longer follow-up data of CheckMate 2015 evaluating nivolumab plus doxorubicin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine in newly diagnosed advanced HL. In a third interesting HL abstract it was shown that foregoing radiotherapy in PET-negative patients with early-stage HL increases the risk of disease progression. In non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), data were presented indicating that there is no benefit of rituximab maintenance beyond two years in patients with relapsed or refractory indolent NHL. In addition to this, interesting data were presented on the use of an obinutuzumab + DHAP combination in patients with untreated mantle cell lymphoma, with polatuzumab vedotin + obinutuzumab + lenalidomide in relapsed/refractory follicular lymphoma (FL) and with the anti-CD47 antibody Hu5F9-G4 in patients with refractory lymphoma.
(BELG J HEMATOL 2019;10(5):208–13)
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