Our recent CLL Global Research Foundation Town Hall featured CLL Global President, Dr. William Wierda, and Dr. Alessandra Ferrajoli, from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Watch the full webinar.
Expert Panel:
Dr. William Wierda, President & CEO, CLL Global Research Foundation
Dr. Alessandra Ferrajoli, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Transcript
Jamie Forward:
Dr. Ferrajoli, this one’s for you. Tim writes: Does vitamin D3 really help prolong the watch and wait period?
Dr. Alessandra Ferrajoli:
No. But we do want patients with CLL to have normal vitamin D levels so, they should check their levels of vitamin D and use supplements as needed.
Jamie Forward: Okay, and a related follow-up question to that is: Is watch and wait still the safest option to follow if you’re not having symptoms? What does the research show?
Dr. Alessandra Ferrajoli:
Yes. The research shows again that in early intervention in a patient that has a regular prognostic factor it’s not advantageous. And this was tested even with the new medications such as ibrutinib and was tested by the German cooperative study group and published last year in JCO. We can make a little sidenote and say that if patients have particularly high-risk factors, then maybe looking at the participation to an early intervention in a clinical trial is something that can be considered. But outside of a clinical trial for a very high-risk patient, we have again shown that there is no benefit in early intervention.
We also need to remember that there is a number of patients, about 20 percent or so that have the so-called smoldering CLL where intervention will not be needed ever. So, we don’t want to take away this opportunity of not needing any intervention by coming up with a new rule that everyone needs to be treated.