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EBMT 2026 | Managing pediatric patients with B-ALL: treatment strategies & advice for physicians
Antonio Pérez-Martínez, MD, PhD, Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain, discusses treatment strategies and challenges in managing pediatric patients with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). Dr Pérez-Martínez notes the importance of minimizing the side effects of curative B-ALL therapies and highlights the role of palliative care and translational research in providing patients with the best possible care. This interview took place at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the EBMT in Madrid, Spain.
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Transcript
Well, as you know, the pediatrician always said that kids are not small adults. So this is something, it’s in our DNA. Leukemia is the most common cancer in kids. Leukemia is one of the most successful treatments in kids. However, the treatment induced into the patient, even if we are able to cure them, has many, has many side effects. Remember that our kids are going to be adults...
Well, as you know, the pediatrician always said that kids are not small adults. So this is something, it’s in our DNA. Leukemia is the most common cancer in kids. Leukemia is one of the most successful treatments in kids. However, the treatment induced into the patient, even if we are able to cure them, has many, has many side effects. Remember that our kids are going to be adults. So now you know that more than 500,000 European survivors of pediatric cancer, having had it when they were kids. So we want to cure all of them, but we also want to cure them with as little side effects as possible. This is something we have to address in our studies. We are now living in a very exciting time when we want to cure using chemotherapy-free protocols. We want to address the role of immunotherapy, antibodies, blinatumomab, inotuzumab, also CAR-T19, bringing it forward into the treatment and not waiting until the patient is refractory and we cannot do anything. So this is how we are dealing now with B-cell leukemia in our kids.
Well, I mean, my advice is we never have to give up in terms of patients. We know that palliative care is important in this setting as well, but also we have to try to do good research and try to bring research from the bench to the bed as fast as we can. So I think that physicians always have to think that translational research is one of our main goals. So even if the patient is refractory and we are treating them with palliative care, we have to try to incorporate research into the situation as well. So this is to me a phrase by Mohamad Mohty. He always said that we should never give up when he’s talking about AML in adults, in the elderly. So for me, in kids with ALL, it is even stronger. Never, never give up.
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