'The HemOnc Pulse' Live: Key Takeaways in MRD, Smoldering Myeloma

Saad Usmani, MD, MBA, FACP, a Myeloma Specialist and Cellular Therapist at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, joined Chadi Nabhan, MD, MBA, FACP, for a one-on-one interview about measurable residual disease (MRD) in myeloma at “The HemOnc Pulse” Live in Chicago, Illinois on May 3-4.

“How are you leveraging MRD in the decision-making for myeloma?” asked Dr. Nabhan.

“MRD is still being used prognostically, but the uptake in the community will be dependent on whether we use [MRD] to escalate or deescalate therapy,” Dr. Usmani responded. “We’re not there yet.”

Drs. Nabhan and Usmani also reviewed key takeaways from the smoldering myeloma discussion and the spectrum of opinions regarding treating the precancerous condition. While some clinicians steer away from treating this patient population, others administer single agent immunomodulatory drugs to certain patients with high-risk smoldering myeloma to delay progression to active myeloma. Dr. Usmani encourages patients to participate in clinical trials and discusses data with patients.

“There are going to be patients who are at high risk of developing active myeloma where we have to intervene,” he concluded.