1st NCRI AML academy meeting | What is the optimum treatment strategy for elderly or frail patients with AML?

During the 1st NCRI AML academy meeting, the AML Global Portal was pleased to speak to Professor Courtney DiNardo from the MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, US, about the optimum treatment strategy for elderly or frail patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

Professor DiNardo explains that newly diagnosed patients with AML were traditionally classified based on eligibility for intensive chemotherapy. Historically, patients who are ineligible for chemotherapy, typically the older population, received palliative care, compared to those eligible for chemotherapy who received potentially curative approaches.

However, Professor DiNardo highlighted how this treatment approach has changed in recent years, with the advent of effective combination therapies including agents such as venetoclax and azacitidine. Randomized clinical trials are ongoing which will investigate the survival benefit of these therapies in the older population of patients with AML.