Tuesday, November 29, 2022
LIVE VIRTUAL SYMPOSIUM
This 2-hour symposium, chaired by Professor Mohamad Mohty, will provide an opportunity for participants to interact with a world-renowned faculty and hear their expert recommendations on treating patients with graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) using extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP).
GvHD is a major complication of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, a curative treatment for many hematologic cancers and other disorders.
A long-standing treatment for GvHD is ECP, which, unlike other second-line therapies, is not immunosuppressive, has no reported drug interactions, and does not have a negative impact on the graft-versus-malignancy effect of the transplant.1 ECP is used both in the prevention and treatment of GvHD.2 Recent data suggest that ECP leads to reduced steroid use, a positive impact on quality of life, a good response, and prolonged survival in both children and adults with GvHD.2-4 However, as the treatment options for GvHD expand, there is a need for guidance regarding optimal treatment strategies.
Through a comprehensive needs assessment, we have identified the following professional practice gaps relating to ECP:
- A lack of awareness of the utility of ECP in GvHD, including in prophylaxis, and acute and chronic GvHD
- Low confidence in selecting patients for ECP
- Suboptimal knowledge of best-practice recommendations for conducting ECP
- Suboptimal knowledge of the sequencing of ECP and ECP in combination with other agents
Agenda
This programme is accredited by the European Board for Accreditation of Continuing Education for Health Professionals (EBAC) for 2 hours of external CME credit. Each participant should claim only those hours of credit that have actually been spent in the educational activity.
Welcome and introductions
What is ECP?
All
Key considerations for the use of ECP in GvHD
An interactive case-based discussion
- ECP + steroids as first line treatment of skin predominant acute GVHD
- ECP + steroids for the treatment of refractory chronic GVHD
Looking to the future
All
Q&A session
Closing remarks and evaluation
In compliance with EBAC guidelines, all speakers/chairpersons participating in this programme have disclosed or indicated potential conflicts of interest which might cause a bias in the presentations. The Organizing Committee/Course Director is responsible for ensuring that all potential conflicts of interest relevant to the event are declared to the audience prior to the CME activities.
Learning objectives
Following this symposium, participants will be able to:
- Recall the latest data and recommendations relating to ECP use in GvHD
- Identify which patients will benefit from ECP
- State factors that may warrant avoidance or deferral of ECP
- State best-practice recommendations for conducting ECP, including treatment schedules, anticoagulation practice, and safety monitoring strategies
- State when to use ECP in patients with GvHD
- State when, why, and how to combine ECP with other therapies, such as immunosuppressive agents, for GvHD treatment
About the GvHD Hub
The GvHD Hub is an open-access online resource, dedicated to providing balanced, credible, and up-to-date medical education in GvHD. Our aim is to enhance knowledge in GvHD through the multichannel dissemination of global advances related to its classification, diagnosis, treatment, and management.
The GvHD Hub shares new data, evidence-based articles, therapy approvals, expert opinions, and international congress coverage to treatment teams and researchers around the world.