This article is part of the April 2018 edition of ASBMT eNews. Download the full issue here.
By Areej Al-Jawahri, MD
The ASBMT HCT Survivorship Special Interest Group (SIG) convened its second annual meeting during Tandem in Salt Lake City, and it was a tremendous success. The meeting was well attended with more than 70 attendees with substantial interest in addressing the survivorship and late effect needs of hematopoietic stem-cell transplant survivors and their caregivers. The meeting began with brief reports from collaborating groups including the NIH Late Effect Initiative (presented by Dr. Minoo Batiwalla), the Palliative and Supportive Care SIG (presented by Dr. Effie Petersdorf) and the CIBMTR Late Effects and Quality of Life (QOL) WC (presented by Dr. Bipin Savani). Collaborating groups provided a brief update regarding the work of their respective groups and underscored the importance of ongoing collaboration with the HCT Survivorship SIG.
In an effort to promote high-quality research in transplant survivorship, the HCT Survivorship SIG reviewed and provided written comments on 11 proposals that were submitted for consideration to be presented at the meeting. A total of four projects were selected for presentation at the HCT Survivorship SIG meeting during Tandem. These proposals included a variety of topics relevant to survivorship care including cardiac late effects, symptom management, cognitive dysfunction and fertility:
1) Identification of genetic polymorphism associated with post stem-cell transplant cardiomyopathy, presented by Dr. Issam Hamadeh, Levine Cancer Institute
2) Mobile health apps to monitor and improve patient symptoms and outcomes, presented by Dr. William Wood, University of North Carolina
3) Neurofeedback modification of electroencephalographic (EEG) derived brain topology for treatment of cognitive decline in post-transplant patients, presented by Dr. Sairah Ahmed, University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center
4) Assessment of fertility in survivors of reduced intensity HSCT, presented by Dr. Seth Rotz, Cleveland Clinic Foundation
The Survivorship SIG also reviewed ongoing efforts to create a nationwide directory of stem-cell transplant survivorship programs that would allow for networking and future collaboration. Additionally, the SIG will be working on writing a position paper focused on how to build a successful survivorship program to comprehensively address the survivorship care needs of stem-cell transplant recipients. If you are interested in survivorship care clinically or from a research perspective, please join us and become a member of the ASBMT Survivorship SIG.