A global clinical trial successfully reduced toxicity and side effects in advanced stage Hodgkin lymphoma patients by using a modified treatment regimen.
Mark Herzberg is a Professor of Clinical Haematology involved in clinical trials for patients with blood cancers, particularly lymphoma, leukaemia, and myeloma, in Australia and New Zealand.
Hodgkin lymphoma is a common cancer with varied symptoms, and treatment typically involves chemotherapy and sometimes radiation therapy.
Approximately 800 Australian patients are diagnosed with advanced stage Hodgkin lymphoma each year, with staging determined through imaging and blood tests.
Advanced stage Hodgkin lymphoma is treated with outpatient combination chemotherapy using two major regimens (ABVD and escalated BEACOPP) worldwide, with a global clinical trial involving nine cooperative groups in nine countries and 1500 patients.
The ALLG contributed 115 patients across 16 sites in Australia and New Zealand to a groundbreaking clinical trial.
A global clinical trial successfully reduced toxicity and side effects in advanced stage Hodgkin lymphoma patients by using a modified treatment regimen incorporating a new drug, Brentuximab Vedotin.
Patients experienced fewer side effects, such as anaemia, low platelet counts, peripheral neuropathy, and gonadal toxicity, while preserving fertility, with the modified BrECADD regimen in the treatment of advanced stage Hodgkin lymphoma.
Most patients with advanced stage Hodgkin lymphoma remained disease-free after three years of treatment, with a significant reduction in toxicity and shorter duration of treatment, allowing them to resume normal life and work sooner.
Australian Health Journal spoke with Professor Mark Hertzberg in his role in the ALLG HD10 Clinical Trial and as a former Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Australasian Leukaemia & Lymphoma Group (ALLG), an organisation involved in improving the treatments and lives of blood cancer patients.
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Diary of a Paramedic in a primary health care clinic
Alecka Miles is a lecturer at Edith Cowan University and works as a paramedic in a multidisciplinary team at Dianella Family Medical Centre in Metropolitan Perth, Western Australia.
Community paramedic roles have a history in Australia, dating back to 2007 in New South Wales and followed by similar initiatives in South Australia and New Zealand. Alecka’s position emerged after she sought to evaluate how paramedics could integrate into general practice, ultimately leading to a job offer post-COVID lockdown in 2020. Her skills, particularly in cannulation, proved valuable as healthcare shifted towards primary care.
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Clinical pain neuroscientist talks about how the brain processes pain information
Persistent pain affects one in five Australians and costs the nation an estimated $73 billion per year in health system costs, lost productivity and other financial costs.
Persistent pain also has debilitating personal costs – negatively impacting quality of life and the ability to engage in meaningful work and life activities.
Despite the enormity of this problem, very few effective treatments exist with most showing only small to moderate improvements. New treatments are desperately needed. The group believes the best way to create impactful change is to work with people with lived experience of persistent pain to devise solutions with them, not for them.
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