What does it mean to be MRD positive? What does this mean for my long term outcomes?

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What does it mean to be MRD positive?

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So what does it mean to be MRD Positive?

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So first, it's important to note that we only really test MRD for patients

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who otherwise look like they're in remission.

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So first we're talking about a patient who under the microscope,

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the bone marrow looks to be in remission, meaning that the blast percentage

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or the AML cells are generally less than 5%.

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And then we can look to determine whether they might be MRD positive or negative.

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So MRD positive just refers to the fact that even though they look like

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they're in remission under the microscope with visual inspection,

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by some other testing, we can detect evidence of residual leukemia.

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So in general, this does translate to a higher risk of relapse,

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but it's important to note that not everybody who's MRD

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positive will necessarily relapse in the future.

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It really depends on whether they receive additional therapy or also, sometimes

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we recommend a stem cell transplant for those patients who have persistent

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MRD positivity, meaning persistent disease despite their initial treatment.