Harry Erba, MD, PhD, stops by The HemOnc Pulse at the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Society of Hematologic Oncology (SOHO) to discuss what clinicians need to know about treating and approaching acute myeloid leukemia in the year 2023.
"I think the most important part of all of this reclassification is to bring the biology closer to the treatment we have," Dr. Erba said. "The things that we should be focusing on as from a clinical standpoint, are the markers that actually drive their vehicle. I think it's amazing how we are subclassifying AML and acute lymphoblastic leukemia by the various mutations ... the fusion proteins that are being discovered that drive the disease and will become targets for novel therapies.
Dr. Erba also offered his thoughts on what he thought clinicians should focus on in light of all the AML classifications.
"I think from a clinical standpoint, it's wonderful to know the classification," he said. "Do you have to know all of them, the WHO ... the International Consensus Classification, the ALM risk stratification? Or is it more important to really just focus for the clinician on what's important for them to know what is the time of diagnosis and the time of relapse. I really think that's what the clinical people need to know. They need to know how to boil this down to 'what do I need to know to treat that patient in real time'."
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