Treatment for blood cancers is advancing, giving more options to people living with the disease. Sikander Ailawadhi, M.D.
, an oncologist and hematologist at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, says that physicians are identifying, monitoring and eliminating disease earlier and more deeply, thanks to targeted drug therapies and novel treatments like CAR-T cell therapy. Dr. Ailawadhi is an expert in blood cancers , particularly myeloma.
Worldwide, cancer is a leading cause of death, accounting for nearly 10 million—nearly 1 in 6—deaths in 2020, according to the World Health Organization. New cases of blood cancers— leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma—were expected to account for nearly 10% of new cancer cases diagnosed in the U.S.
in 2020. Drug treatments for blood cancers have evolved. In the past, myeloma patients received two drugs in sequence—two after two.
Now, they receive four drugs together at once, with more patients going into remission. Some treatments are becoming so effective—even after a stem-cell transplant—that a subset of patients may be able to stop their medications altogether, Dr. Ailawadhi says.
Clinical trials studying that approach are underway. Blood cancer patients have more immunotherapies available, including CAR-T, which uses the body's immune system to fight cancer. CAR-T involves genetically modifying T cells to activate the immune system to find and kill certain cancers.
The Food and Drug Administration approved CAR-T for certain types .