Gail Roboz, MD from Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY discusses new treatments for elderly acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients outside of clinical trials. Although azacitidine and decitabine are not novel agents their application is new, and has somewhat replaced low-dose ara-C. However, azacitidine and decitabine produce low remission rates. According to Dr Roboz there is an increased interest in adding partners to the hypermethylating agent backbone to boast rates of complete remission. Furthermore, an increased number of transplants are being undertaken in elderly patients and if the efficacy of azacitidine and decitabine can be augmented, and thus higher remission rates, then older patients can proceed more quickly to transplant. Recorded at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the British Society of Haematology (BSH) and International Society of Hematology (ISH), in Glasgow, Scotland.
Novel treatments of AML in elderly patients
