Dr. Abedin on the Need for Risk Stratification Before Chemoimmunotherapy in CLL

Sameem Abedin, MD, assistant professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Medical College of Wisconsin, discusses the need for risk stratification prior to giving chemoimmunotherapy to patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

Risk stratification can inform which patients are most likely to respond to chemoimmunotherapy, says Abedin. As such, it is important to obtain molecular results regarding 11q deletions, 17p loss or mutations, and IGHV mutational status, which can all be prognostic indicators of response to chemoimmunotherapy, Abedin says.

Chemoimmunotherapy remains the standard frontline treatment regimen for up to half of patients with CLL, so ensuring patients are risk stratified before treatment initiation is important, concludes Abedin.