EHA Unplugged

What is Plan S and what has happened to it? Join our guest Dr Nuno Borges and host Dr Christian Scharenberg as they talk about the core principles, goals, and challenges of Plan S. Listen along as Dr Borges discusses the controversies aroused by Plan S and the “publish or perish” paradigm faced by early career scientists. Dr Borges ends this podcast on a positive note where he believes that slowly...

What is clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP) and its associated risks in elderly patients? Join our guest Prof Kirsten Gronbaek and host Dr Christian Scharenberg as they discuss CHIP, its biological significance, frequency in the general population, and its association with epigenetic age. Listen along as Prof Gronbaek dives deeper into the subject and explains the association an...

What can a not-for-profit NGO do for patients in a time of war? Join our guests, Prof Konstanze Döhner, Prof Elizabeth Macintyre, and Dr Nathalie van Havre as they discuss what the European Hematology Association (EHA) has done in favor of Ukraine and the Ukrainian hematological community. Our guests talk about support programs EHA has implemented and the obstacles that came with that. Prof Macint...

Join our guest Prof David Rees and host Dr Christian Scharenberg as they discuss how the concept of precision medicine can be applied to Sickle Cell Disease (SCD). Listen as Prof David Rees talks about prognostic markers and how they can (or can't) guide SCD disease management, current and new treatment options for SCD patients, and how the situation of precision medicine can differ between low- a...

How did CLL lose its role of "Cinderella" in hematology in the last decades, thanks to the introduction of entirely new classes of drugs, and came under the spotlight of clinical research in hematology? Prof Jennifer Woyach discusses the fundamentals of CLL genetics and treatment in this podcast, as well as the selection of patients for therapy, the different, and somewhat unpredictable, clinical...

The links between thrombosis and cancer have been known for a long time and are associated with the type of cancer (pancreatic and lung carcinomas, for example, are particularly prone to give this complication), its localization, and the anti-neoplastic treatment used to fight the cancer itself. Prof Jan Marie Connors, in this podcast, explains how a thrombotic episode may represent the first indi...

In this podcast, Prof Tessa Andermann, an expert in infectious diseases, provides an overview of the role of the microbiome in the homeostasis of the human body and how it has been implicated in the development of complications after allogeneic transplantations, including acute graft-versus-host-disease, infections, mortality, and disease relapse. Some of the relationships observed between changes...

How do you make a diagnosis of erythrocytosis? Is full blood count enough or do you need more specific tests? How is the classification in primary and secondary erythrocytosis linked to EPO levels? Is idiopathic erythrocytosis really a vanishing entity? These are some of the questions Prof Mary-Frances McCullin answers in this podcast, giving listeners the key information necessary to understand e...

In the seventh and final episode of the Clinical Trial podcast series, you can hear Prof. Konstanze Döhner and Prof. Antonio Almeida exchanging ideas and thought-provoking opinions about how investigator-initiated clinical trials and new trial designs can provide patients early access to novel drugs. They discuss the importance of large collaborative groups, the complexity of current requirements...

This series of two podcasts leads you on a journey through the main clinical and therapeutical aspects of Cutaneous T Cell Lymphomas (CTCLs), a heterogeneous group of lymphoid neoplasms characterized by primary cutaneous localization. Albeit rare, CTCLs have peculiar clinical characteristics, requiring a multidisciplinary approach and a strict collaboration between different specialists, allowing...

This series of two podcasts leads you on a journey through the main clinical and therapeutical aspects of Cutaneous T Cell Lymphomas (CTCLs), a heterogeneous group of lymphoid neoplasms characterized by primary cutaneous localization. Albeit rare, CTCLs have peculiar clinical characteristics, requiring a multidisciplinary approach and a strict collaboration between different specialists, allowing...

Dr David Kurtz discusses in this podcast the most recent technical developments and practical applications of circulating tumor DNA and liquid biopsies, an active area of research in the last 25 years, which is now gaining more importance and translational application in the clinic. In tumors like B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas, for example, somatic mutations can now be tracked and diagnosed using t...

The whole world of CML changed in the early 2000s with the introduction of imatinib and TKIs, however, the situation in developing countries can be significantly different from Europe and USA, as discussed by Prof Hemant Malhotra in this podcast. Short-backs may encompass the molecular diagnosis and monitoring of the disease (not everywhere available) as well as the cost of drugs and medical expen...

Transfusion processes have changed significantly in recent years, at the same time changing the guidelines for blood cell replacement therapy. Listen to Prof. Michael Murphy in this podcast as he provides an overview of the most up-to-date topics in transfusion, including the relevant risk of over-transfusion, restricted transfusion practices, and also the issues of delayed transfusion and transfu...

This podcast follows a short discussion between two young hematologists on a clinical case review of a chronic myeloid leukemia patient called Naomi. In this discussion, the hematologists go through Naomi’s case while addressing the management of CML patients in complete molecular response and the requirements for discontinuation of tyrosine kinase treatment in CML patients. This podcast is render...

In the sixth episode of the Clinical Trial podcast series, Prof. Robert Hills discusses the different reasons that lead to the end of a trial – especially when it is earlier than planned. He also gives us a summary of what happens after the trial; the importance of some steps involving the data and their availability, and the writing of reports for the appropriate regulatory authorities. In this s...

In the fourth episode of the EHA Diagnosing And Treating Iron Deficiency podcast series, host Prof Gunnar Birgegård and guest expert Prof Antonio Almeda discuss the diagnostic and therapeutic management of iron deficiency and anemia in the perioperative setting, a clinical situation where having inadequate iron stores carries significant clinical consequences on mortality and morbidity outcomes. T...

In the fifth episode of the Clinical Trial podcast series, Prof. Robert Hills discusses the documentation of clinical trials and how it represents a safeguard for the credibility of the trial. He points out the importance of finding a good balance between too many documents and not enough of them. In addition, he highlights the multitude of different groups working on a clinical trial, which ultim...

In the fifth and final episode of the Aging Patient: Dispelling Myths podcast series, host Gareth Tucker and guest experts Prof Raul Cordoba, Dr Ulrich Wedding, and Dr Dominique Bron discuss the ethical issues associated with treating hematological malignancies in older adults. They raise different points regarding treatment decisions made with (and not without) the patient and amongst other param...

In the fourth episode of the Clinical Trial podcasts, Dr. Eleftheria Hatzimichael gives us an overview of the sponsor's role and responsibilities in investigator-initiated clinical trials. The different meaning of "sponsor" and "funder", the importance for physicians to be involved in the design of clinical trials, the eight overarching responsibilities of the sponsor, are all key topics discussed...

In the fourth episode of the Aging Patient: Dispelling Myths podcast series, host Gareth Tucker and guest expert Prof Monica Engelhardt discuss how comprehensive geriatric assessment can guide treatment decisions and improve patient outcomes. Dr Engelhardt gives us an insight into her clinical practice and how elderly hematology patients are receptive - or not - to this testing. You will also lear...

In the third episode of the Clinical Trial podcasts, Prof. Martin Dreyling from the University of Munich makes several points about standards of care in clinical studies, also mentioned as GCPs (Good Clinical Practices). He gives us a historical perspective on the establishment of these standards 20 years ago, and how they need an update through what he calls a ‘reality check’. Prof. Dreyling is p...

In the third episode of the Aging Patient: Dispelling Myths podcast series, host Gareth Tucker and experts Prof Antonio Almeida, Prof Valentin Goede, and Dr Annamaria Brioli discuss the treatment of hematological malignancies in older adults, involving polypharmacy in most cases. They describe how patients commonly react to polypharmacy and how challenging it can be to have all the information abo...

In the second episode of the Clinical Trial podcasts, former EHA President Prof. John Gribben gives us an overview of the role(s) of CROs (Contract Research Organizations) in clinical investigation. He discusses how they can help, notably with the paper trails associated with clinical trials, and how they should be constructive partners in the process of clinical research. In this series of Clinic...

In the second episode of the Aging Patient: Dispelling Myths podcast series, host Gareth Tucker discusses with experts Prof Alessandra Tucci and Prof Sergio Storti the definition and importance of patient assessment (including frailty, comorbidity, and polypharmacy), in older adults with hematological conditions and how it can be used to determine the overall ‘fitness’ of a patient. They also disc...