CME: Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: ASH 2014 Overview
ACCREDITATION EXPIRED: May 02, 2017
Activity Description / Statement of Need:
In this online CME self-learning program:
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is one of a group of malignancies caused by cytogenetic DNA mutations of developing hematopoietic stem cell precursors and mostly common to children with peak incidence at 2-5 years of age. Although approximately 80% of ALL cases present in children, they also occur in adults. The symptoms of ALL are non-specific and similar to those of acute myelogenous leukemia (ALL), which patients usually have 1-3 months of complaints. These symptoms include: fatigue, malaise, or palpitations associated with anemia; fever with or without infection due to leukopenia or leukocytosis; and petechiae, and bleeding or bruising of the oral mucosa, skin, or gastrointestinal tract due to thrombocytopenia. Treatment goal in patients with ALL is to cure (which is defined as remission for at least 5 years), with children commonly responding to treatment with better than adults. Children may have a remission rate of 99% with a cure rate of about 90%, whereas adults have remission rates of only 60-85% with only 30-40% reaching 5-year disease-free survival. Treatments are categorized into five phases: remission induction with CNS prophylaxis, consolidation therapy, interim maintenance, delayed intensification, and maintenance therapy. Despite the high rate of cure in patients, possible complications and barriers to care in the treatment of ALL are adverse effects, expensive cost of treatment, or poor diagnosis. Dozens of agents that directly target biochemical pathways essential to neoplastic processes have been recently discovered and have been studied specifically in ALL, some of which are FDA-approved for ALL, others of which are presently in clinical trials. Helping the clinician discern the role of both cytotoxic and more novel therapies merits continuing education programming in ALL.
Agenda
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Epidemiology of and risk factors for ALL |
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Symptomology and diagnosis of ALL |
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Updates in treatment in patients with ALL |
Target Audience:
Healthcare professionals specializing in: hematology, oncology, and those who otherwise commonly care for patients with ALL.
Commercial Support Disclosure: This program is supported by educational grants from Sigma-Tau and Amgen.
Release Date: May 02, 2015 -- Expiration Date: May 02, 2017
Faculty: Jonathan Kolitz, MD
Agenda
Learning Objectives
By the end of the session the participant will be able to:
- Summarize the most impactful findings presented at ASH 2014 relating to ALL and apply them to patient cases, where relevant, including in the following areas: 1. the Ph-like signature in ALL
- 2. developments regarding the biology, salvage and new therapies for T-ALL and T-LL
- 3. advances in the immunotherapy and cellular therapy for ALL
- 4. the Adolescent and Young Adult model for treating ALL and clinical outcomes
- 5. recent data regarding the management of Ph+ ALL; & 6. the importance of MRD measurements in ALL
Accreditation
Faculty Disclosure and Resolution of COI
As a provider of continuing medical education, it is the policy of ScientiaCME to ensure balance, independence, objectivity, and scientific rigor in all of its educational activities. In accordance with this policy, faculty and educational planners must disclose any significant relationships with commercial interests whose products or devices may be mentioned in faculty presentations, and any relationships with the commercial supporter of the activity. The intent of this disclosure is to provide the intended audience with information on which they can make their own judgments. Additionally, in the event a conflict of interest (COI) does exist, it is the policy of ScientiaCME to ensure that the COI is resolved in order to ensure the integrity of the CME activity. For this CME activity, any COI has been resolved thru content review ScientiaCME.
Faculty Disclosure: Jonathan Kolitz, MD is a stockholder of Celgene, Amgen, and Pfizer, has received honoraria from University of Arkansas, and has received royalties from Uptodata.
Disclosures of Educational Planners: Charles Turck, PharmD has no relevant financial disclosures.
Commercial Support Disclosure: This program is supported by educational grants from Sigma-Tau and Amgen.
Instructions
- Read the learning objectives above
- Take the Pre-Test (optional). Completion of the pre-test will help us evaluate the knowledge gained by participating in this CME activity.
- View the online activity. You may view this is in more than one session, and may pause or repeat any portion of the presentation if you need to.
- Minimum participation threshold: Take the post-test. A score of 70% or higher is required to pass and proceed to the activity evaluation.
- Complete the activity evaluation and CME registration. A CE certificate will be emailed to you immediately.
System Requirements
Windows 7 or above
Internet Explorer 8
*Adobe Acrobat Reader
Mac OS 10.2.8
Safari or Chrome or Firefox
*Adobe Acrobat Reader
Internet Explorer is not supported on the Macintosh
*Required to view Printable PDF Version
Please take a few minutes to participate in the optional pre-test. It will help us measure the knowledge gained by participating in this activity.