Uniting in Hope: Lymphoma Edu... Video Transcript

Participants

, Denice Economou RN, MN, AO, Leo I. Gordon MD, Sandra J. Horning MD, Brian Stabler PhD, John M. Timmerman MD, Julie M. Vose MD

Summary

Every year, the Lymphoma Research Foundation hosts a forum for people living with lymphoma and the healthcare professionals that care for them. People attending this weekend gathering exchange latest news about treatment and discuss issues important to people living with lymphoma. See highlights from featured speakers in excerpts from the 2002 Lymphoma Forum.

Webcast Transcript

Narrator: Each year the Lymphoma Research Foundation holds a forum to allow experts to present the most recent medical information to people living with all forms of this disease.

Julie M. Vose, MD: Hopefully today you're going to learn something about a very new drug. The drug that we're going to talk about today is called BCL-2 antisense oligonucleotide.

Narrator: An important topic at this gathering concerned new approaches to treatment.

Sandra J. Horning, MD: I know many of you in the audience are interested in the vaccine approaches for follicular lymphoma.

John M. Timmerman, MD: We don't have a vaccine yet that can prevent lymphoma from ever occurring in a patient; these are vaccines that are used to treat people who already have lymphoma.

Narrator: This year there was interesting news from abroad and extensive information about an important new therapy.

Sandra J. Horning, MD: The excitement in our field over the last year has really been palpable with the publication of this study from France comparing CHOP versus rituximab-CHOP in older patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

Narrator: Radioimmunotherapy was a topic that sparked a great deal of discussion. One expert in the field, Dr. Leo Gordon, gave a presentation.

Leo I. Gordon, MD: This is like a Trojan horse. It's taking the antibody asking it to stick to the cell and then the radiation gets released and hopefully takes care of surrounding cells and the cells that the antibody sticks to. That's the concept.

Narrator: As usual, there was plenty of time set aside, for a wide range of questions.

Question: Could you tell me if any work is being done on CLL on the vaccine programs?

Question: My question is on conditioning, both during chemotherapy and when you're out of chemotherapy. Is there a maximum level of physical fitness exercises, whether it's cardio or weight lifting that you should try to avoid?

Sandra J. Horning, MD: No.

Question: My second question is ....

Narrator: There were also words of inspiration from thriving survivors.

Brian Stabler, PhD: People think black and white, it's all or nothing. Right? Oh my God, I've got this disease, that's it. I'm gone.

It's very hard sometimes to get to thinking, isn't it? Because you're feeling so much. It feels so bad to have this thing stuck in your body...

Narrator: And there were words of encouragement from those who care for people with lymphoma.

Denise Economoux, RN, MN, AOCN: It may seem impossible but, your care, whatever it is, is important. So remember that. Whatever you can do, that's what you're doing. And that's all you can do. And we appreciate that and your loved one appreciates that.

The goal is to make it easier for everyone in this room. If there's something, someone learned that they didn't know before they came in here, I am happy.