Patrick Hagen, MD, Loyola University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, discusses patient selection and optimal timing of stem cell transplantation (SCT) for systemic light chain (AL) amyloidosis. Dr Hagen highlights that key factors dictating transplant eligibility also act as prognostic markers. This means that high levels of cardiac enzymes, markers of cardiac stress, and the presence of comorbidities (for example, chronic kidney disease) predict poorer outcomes, even with non-transplant-directed therapies. Dr Hagen also emphasizes that patients should be offered high-dose chemotherapy and transplant as early as possible in their disease journey when fitness is greatest and the patient has fewer comorbidities and a lower likelihood of organ progression. This interview took place at the XIX International Symposium on Amyloidosis (ISA) in Rochester, MN.
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