Speaking from the 2018 Society of Hematologic Oncology (SOHO) Annual Meeting in Houston, TX, Simon Rule, MD, from Plymouth University, Plymouth, UK, outlines the current standards of care for both young and elderly patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). He highlights some current trials which are attempting to bring drugs like ibrutinib to the frontline setting. He also discusses a particularly exciting area of the field: the potential to create a risk-adapted approach for MCL management by targeting patients with P53 mutations with an aggressive therapy of allogenic stem cell transplant. While this therapy can only be tolerated by young patients, it is a step forwards in improving the outcome of a patient group with traditionally poor prognoses. Finally, Prof. Rule discusses another question in MCL: how to treat patients who have relapsed after ibrutinib. He points to bendamustine as a potential solution.
A risk-adapted treatment approach for mantle cell lymphoma
