Addressing the Challenges in Alzheimer's Disease Diagnosis and Management
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the leading cause of cognitive impairment and dementia in older individuals (≥ 65 years) throughout the world. In the United States (U.S.), more than 6 million individuals carry this diagnosis, with many yet to be diagnosed. AD follows a prolonged, progressive disease course that begins with pathophysiological changes years before any clinical manifestations are observed. Individuals harboring such changes may have no symptoms or may exhibit clinical manifestations varying from memory lapses to severe and debilitating loss of memory and cognitive function. There are several clinical gaps including the use of biomarkers in AD diagnosis, knowledge of new and emerging disease-modifying treatments, and multidisciplinary care coordination in early AD. Through an interactive educational initiative bringing together AD experts and clinicians involved in AD care, we aim to educate all those involved to improve the care of patients with early AD.<br> <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.gathered.com/author/medicallogix/jhu-logo.jpg" width="200" alt="John Hopkins Medicine Logo" title="John Hopkins Medicine Logo">
Addressing the Impact of COVID-19 on MS Care
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been reservations regarding the risks of using immunosuppressive or immunomodulating agents to treat patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) in case these treatments increase infectious disease risk or reduce vaccine efficacy. Many MS patients take disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) to prevent new symptoms such as muscle weakness, poor coordination, and/or impaired vision while mitigating disease progression. For many years, the treatment paradigm has been to “treat early and never stop”, but given issues that arose during the COVID-19 pandemic, this idea became much more challenging. While it appears we are in a nadir with respect to COVID infections, the risk of COVID remains and is of particular concern for our patients with MS. MS treatment in the context of COVID-19 risk or infection has been exceptionally challenging. Accordingly, healthcare providers have had reservations and concerns regarding deciding what are the safest and most effective treatment strategies taking into consideration all of the risks and potential complications when addressing both MS and COVID-19. Clinicians caring for patients with MS require educational programs to stay informed of the recommended best use of DMTs and to be aware of the latest guidelines for safely treating MS in the context of COVID-19. This collaborative social learning platform establishes a network of providers who can support each other locally, as well as those from different communities, with the goal of learning and sharing best practices that will improve outcomes for patients with MS in the context of COVID-19.<br> <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.gathered.com/author/medicallogix/jhu-logo.jpg" width="200" alt="John Hopkins Medicine Logo" title="John Hopkins Medicine Logo">
Adjuvant Therapy in HR+/HER2- Breast Cancer: Choosing and Managing CDK4/6 Inhibitors for Real-World Patients
Early-stage hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative (HR+/HER2−) breast cancer is the most common breast cancer subtype, accounting for roughly two-thirds to three-quarters of all new breast cancer cases in the United States (U.S.). Endocrine therapy (ET) has long been the backbone of adjuvant treatment for HR+ breast cancer, substantially reducing recurrence risk. However, many high-risk patients still develop resistance and/or relapse with ET, highlighting the need for new strategies. In the metastatic setting, combining ET with cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 (CDK4/6) inhibitors (e.g., abemaciclib, palbociclib, ribociclib) revolutionized care by markedly improving progression-free and overall survival with a tolerable safety profile. This success spurred trials testing CDK4/6 inhibitors as adjuvant therapy in early disease to further reduce recurrences. Recent landmark trials have indeed shown that adding a CDK4/6 inhibitor to ET can improve invasive disease-free survival in high-risk early breast cancer, representing a major advance in curative therapy. This educational initiative establishes impactful small group interactions among highly qualified oncologists, oncology APPs, and oncology nurses that will, through a variety of collaborative educational experiences, help them optimize the care of their patients with HR+/HER2- breast cancer.<br> <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.gathered.com/author/medicallogix/jhu-logo.jpg" width="200" alt="John Hopkins Medicine Logo" title="John Hopkins Medicine Logo">
Advanced Endometrial Cancer in the Immunotherapy Age
Endometrial cancer is among the few cancers increasing in incidence and mortality in the United State and remains the most common gynecologic cancer diagnosed. To improve clinical outcomes, clinicians treating patients with endometrial cancer need to understand the molecular classification of the disease, the newest guidelines on management, and the evidence underlying these recommendations. Along with this, clinicians must be aware of the most effective ways to manage possible adverse events as well as be cognizant of how best to address racial disparities in care. This educational initiative will allow clinicians to learn and discuss these crucial points in diagnosing and managing these patients to increase long-term survival. Given the rapid shift in best practices occurring in this area and the fact that current NCCN Guidelines classify endometrial cancers into 1 of 4 molecular groups, as opposed to the traditional 2 groups, it is important for clinicians to stay up to date as advances in areas such as biomarker research continue to be made. This educational activity allows clinicians to engage in interprofessional discussions with knowledgeable experts and peers to more fully understand how to integrate these new treatment approaches into their day-to-day practice and establish actionable plans to improve outcomes for their patients.<br> <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.gathered.com/author/medicallogix/jhu-logo.jpg" width="200" alt="John Hopkins Medicine Logo" title="John Hopkins Medicine Logo">
Advancements in Treating Early-Stage Biochemical Recurrence in Hormone-Sensitive Prostate Cancer
This collaborative social learning platform establishes a network of providers who can support each other locally, as well as those from different communities, with the goal of learning and sharing best practices that will improve outcomes for patients with non-metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (nmHSPC). Prostate cancer is the most common solid cancer in men worldwide. Most men are diagnosed as having localized disease because of the widespread use of prostate-specific antigen screening. Men diagnosed as having clinically localized prostate cancer have multiple disease management options, including active surveillance, surgery, or radiotherapy. After local therapy, the treatment of early-stage non-metastatic biochemical recurrence (BCR) in hormone-sensitive (or castrate-sensitive) prostate cancer (HSPC) is not clear cut and options are limited. Treatment options also differ based on whether the patient has a low-risk or high-risk prostate cancer.<br> <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.gathered.com/author/medicallogix/jhu-logo.jpg" width="200" alt="John Hopkins Medicine Logo" title="John Hopkins Medicine Logo">
Beyond Clinical Trials: Addressing Real-World Evidence and Challenges in Multiple Myeloma Immunotherapy
Multiple myeloma (MM) is a malignant plasma cell disorder and the second most common blood cancer in the United States (U.S.) Survival has improved markedly with modern therapies – the 5-year survival rate has more than doubled in recent decades – yet myeloma remains incurable, and most patients eventually relapse even after achieving remission. Each successive relapse is harder to treat: response rates drop and remission durations shorten with later treatment lines. Given the importance of RWE in RRMM treatment, clinicians treating these patients should be informed about current RWE publications. This educational initiative establishes impactful small group interactions among hematology/oncology clinicians that will provide the opportunity to comprehensively review, discuss and reflect on RWE related to RRMM and how it may impact the care of their patients. Specifically, during this experience, clinicians will explore a number of important issues related to RWE in RRMM including: a) efficacy disparities between clinical trial data and RWE; b) patient population differences; c) safety profile variations; d) treatment sequencing results; e) integration of novel therapies; and f) identifying optimal therapies for specific patient types.<br> <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.gathered.com/author/medicallogix/jhu-logo.jpg" width="200" alt="John Hopkins Medicine Logo" title="John Hopkins Medicine Logo">
How MS Care Has Evolved Since the COVID-19 Pandemic
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have learned valuable lessons pertinent to MS care. This includes knowledge about COVID-19 severity and infection risk (especially as it relates to DMT selection), a much greater understanding of how DMTs affect SARS-CoV-2 vaccine responses, ways to potentially optimize vaccine responses, and the role of telemedicine. This program covers some of these major lessons learned about MS care. The Gather-ed collaborative social learning platform establishes a network of providers who can support each other with the goal of learning and sharing best practices that will improve outcomes for patients with MS.<br> <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.gathered.com/author/medicallogix/jhu-logo.jpg" width="200" alt="John Hopkins Medicine Logo" title="John Hopkins Medicine Logo">
Improving the Care of Patients with Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma
Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) remains the most common variety of renal cancer, representing 90% of the diagnoses. Within the United States (US), it is a relatively common malignant caner, ranking as sixth and tenth most common for men and women respectively. Yet, the incidence has been slowly but steadily rising over the past thirty years. While localized RCC has a high survival rate, metastatic RCC only has a 5-20% 5-year survival rate. Previous forms of therapy at this stage had variable efficacy and poor tolerability in these advanced stages. The development of several agents has improved RCC outcomes and have improved tolerability: vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitors (VEGFi), mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitors, and immunotherapies. Of note, two main combinations of are approved in patients with RCC: (1) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) with immuno-oncology (I-O) therapies and (2) two I-O agents. Educational programs that focus on this new and emerging approach are needed to aid clinicians in understanding the proper and safe use of I-O combinations. This collaborative social learning platform establishes a network of providers who can support each other locally, as well as those from different communities, with the goal of learning and sharing best practices that will improve outcomes for patients with renal cell carcinoma.<br> <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.gathered.com/author/medicallogix/jhu-logo.jpg" width="200" alt="John Hopkins Medicine Logo" title="John Hopkins Medicine Logo">
Managing BRAF V600-mutant Colorectal Cancer
Colorectal cancer (CRC) continues to be the second most lethal cancer in the United States (US) with approximately 149,500 new cases and 52,980 deaths per year. Patients diagnosed at an advanced/metastatic stage have a five-year survival rate of roughly 14%. For these patients, initial treatment is usually chemotherapy based. With this treatment, patients have a median survival of 30 months. Through further research, targeted therapies have been developed to fight metastatic CRC (mCRC), these include antibodies against the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). These agents have increased overall survival (OS) in mCRC. Several biomarkers are used in the diagnosis of mCRC, including KRAS and MRAF mutations as well as microsatellite instability assessment. Testing for and targeting BRAF mutations is recommended by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines. Still BRAF testing is underused, especially at community centers. While BRAF V600E mutation is associated with poorer prognosis, there are now targeted treatments available. After first-line treatment, subsequent systemic therapy recommendations from the NCCN include the combination of encorafenib in addition to EGFR inhibition with cetuximab or panitumumab. Dermatologic adverse events (AEs), among others, may occur with these treatments, but there is detailed guidance available for their management. This educational program will help clinicians understand the importance of BRAF testing and treatment with practical guidance on managing AEs to keep patients on effective doses of their needed medications.<br> <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.gathered.com/author/medicallogix/jhu-logo.jpg" width="200" alt="John Hopkins Medicine Logo" title="John Hopkins Medicine Logo">
