Should children with AML participate in a clinical trial? In pediatrics, we encourage all children who are able to, who are eligible to be enrolled on a trial to be enrolled on a trial. We realized a long time ago that since pediatric cancer was so rare, that the only way to learn more about how to treat these children better was to do as many well organized trials as possible to figure out better and better ways to treat children. There is a very robust research program for pediatric oncology trials in this country and throughout the world. And so for any child who is eligible to enroll in a clinical trial, we do encourage that because you will be adding to the general knowledge about how to treat these patients and improve the future chances of future patients. That being said, not everyone is at a place or being treated at a time where they are eligible for a trial, which is okay. But we do encourage it when possible. Is standard of care good enough to not need to enroll in a clinical trial? If a child is being treated at a hospital where there is a trial available that the child is eligible for, I would encourage parents to enroll their child on that trial because there will only be trials offered that are considered safe and worth the risk. And the idea of any trial that would be offered to a patient upfront would only be attempting to improve upon the standard of care. That being said, the standard of care treatment for pediatric AML is very good. The survival rates are much better than they used to be. And so if a trial is not available, then that child will be offered standard of care therapy and have nearly 100% chance of getting into remission and nearly a 70% chance of staying in remission.
HealthTree • January 5, 2023