COSTEM 2021 | Pre- and post-alloHSCT treatment in MDS

Ibrahim Yakoub-Agha, MD, PhD, University of Lille, Lille, France, discusses the role of treatment pre- and post-allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloHSCT) in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Prof. Yakoub-Agha argues that debulking treatment prior to transplantation is not necessary and comments on a recent retrospective study demonstrating that a change in International Prognostic Scoring System-Revised (IPSS-R) score between the time of diagnosis and the time of transplantation does not impact post-transplant outcomes. Prof. Yakoub-Agha also highlights the importance of patients achieving complete remission (CR) before transplantation. According to Prof. Yakoub-Agha, a combination treatment approach consisting of azacitidine plus venetoclax may be useful in the post-transplant setting, but this needs to be further investigated. This interview took place at the 6th Congress on Controversies in Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapies (COSTEM), which took place virtually.