SOHO 2025 | Considering the impact of lymphoma therapies on the long-term quality of life of patients

Quality of life issues in the long term after chemotherapy, I would say if we look at individual diseases we have to weigh the risks and benefits within the context of the disease. I think that’s really important. So for an indolent disease like follicular lymphoma or marginal zone lymphoma, we want to try to reduce the toxicity if possible, even minor things, because somebody’s going to live with that potentially, for example, neuropathy, for 20 years that can interfere with the quality of their life. What I call the pain-to-gain ratio is different in aggressive diseases because you’re treating for a cure. And so someone getting treated for double-hit lymphoma, aggressive B-cell lymphomas in general, they’re going to accept some toxicity even if it’s a long-term compromise because otherwise they may die. Fortunately, the current new drugs that we’re looking to incorporate, including the BTK inhibitors and the bispecifics, don’t seem to have those long-term side effects as much as like the Vincas did. So for the most part, that’s good. Every once in a while, you see somebody who has chronic brain fog and that can be a devastating and life-changing event. We don’t have a way to predict who that is or how to modify that right now. And then with regard to salvage therapies, I think we need to be mindful, for example, with CAR-T, especially in the elderly. And one of the key things is to integrate gerontology early and understand what that patient’s risks are and if there’s anything that we can do to modify that either before, during, or after the CAR-T process.

This transcript is AI-generated. While we strive for accuracy, please verify this copy with the video.