Physicians Webinars

The webinar was organised by the Paediatric Diseases Working Party and provided an update of the state-of-the-art for CAR T-cell therapy for paediatric leukaemia and addressed the key issues in this field. This webinar was suitable for both paediatric and adult physicians/trainees with an interest in CAR T-cell therapy.

• Approaches to managing early loss of CAR T persistence in ALL - Sara Ghorashian
• CAR T-cell therapy for AML- state of the art - Tobias Feuchtinger
• Variables impacting outcome of CAR T-cell therapy for paediatric ALL - Liora Schultz

Moderators: Persis Amrolia, Matthias Eyrich and Jochen Büchner

This webinar went live on 17 May, from 16:00 to 17:00 CEST.

This webinar is organised by the Paediatric Diseases Working Party (PDWP). It will be hosted by Dr. Josu de la Fuente and moderated by Dr. Emma Drasar. 

This webinar was organised by the Paediatric Diseases Working Party (PDWP). It was hosted by Dr. Kirill Kirgizov and moderated by Prof. Dr. Josu de la Fuente. During this educational seminar, there was a discussion on the possibilities of allogenic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation for patients with non-malignant diseases. For the patients without a matched related donor, options of matched unrelated of haploidentical donor are available. Which option is better, more efficient and safer was discussed during our webinar. 

Learning objectives:

• Present recent data on the safety and efficacy of HSCT for non-malignant disorders
• Provide data on possibilities of haploidentical HSCT for non-malignant disorders
• Discuss and determine the best algorithm of donor choice for HSCT for non-malignant diseases

The webinar was hosted by Dr Andreas Burchert and moderated by Dr Mohamad Mohty.

FLT3-ITD is a high-risk genetic mutation in AML. Most AML patients with this mutation relapse despite undergoing allogeneic stem cell transplantation. This webinar will be on relapse prevention after allogeneic stem cell transplantation for FLT3-ITD+AML. It will focus on discussing the evidence for using FLT3-targeting inhibitors post-stem cell transplantation to reduce the risk of relapse and improve outcomes. Emerging alternative treatment options will be also discussed. 

This webinar was organized by the Paediatric Diseases Working Party (PDWP). It was hosted by Dr Tobias Feuchtinger, Dr Gunnar Cario, and moderated by Dr Adriana Balduzzi. CAR-T cells currently revolutionize treatment options of immunotherapy. Listen to the data, and bring innovation to the patient in need, but be aware of hypes.

Learning objectives:

• Currently approved indication for antiCD19 chimeric antigen receptor CAR-T cell therapy.
• Ongoing development of CAR-T cells against ALL.
• Individualized risk assessment of ALL, leading to possible future indications in first-line therapy.

This webinar was organized by the Paediatric Diseases Working Party (PDWP). It was hosted by Dr Patrick Schlegel and was moderated by Dr Antonio Pérez-Martínez. 

The webinar covered the landscape of T cell-based immunotherapies with a focus on CAR-T cells in childhood cancers. Moreover, the general challenges of transgenic cell immunotherapy in childhood diseases, mainly cancers, were presented and discussed with the audience.

Learning objectives:

• To have an overview of T cell therapy, especially CAR T cell therapy in children.
• To comment on what can be done to improve outcomes in childhood cancers today.
• To comment on what it takes for T cell immunotherapy to improve over the next decade.
• To assess what and how can the EBMT contribute as a network to improve outcomes for T cell-based immunotherapies.
• To outline a mechanistic understanding of the molecular basis of applied medicines (clinical translational process).

This webinar was accredited by the EBAH-CME credits system.

This webinar was hosted by Dr Raffaella Greco and the panel of experts was formed by Dr Riccardo Saccardi and Dr Roland Martin.

Over the last 25 years, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) has been increasingly used to treat patients affected by severe and refractory autoimmune diseases (ADs), particularly multiple sclerosis (MS). Currently, autologous HSCT has become an integral and standard-of-care part of treatment algorithms for treatment-resistant inflammatory types of MS. The webinar covered current results, focusing also on patient selection, choice of the conditioning regimen, the disease and HSCT-related assessments in the follow-up after HSCT procedure.

Learning objectives:

• To understand the current development and basis for the use of autologous HSCT in multiple sclerosis.

This webinar was accredited by the EBAH-CME credits system.

This webinar was organized by the Paediatric Diseases Working Party (PDWP). It was hosted by Dr Roland Meisel and moderated by Dr Elif Ince. Based on summarizing the currently available data on vaccination post-cellular therapy in children the webinar presented the most recent vaccination recommendations generated during a series of supportive care workshops of the Pediatric Disease Working Party of EBMT.

Learning objectives:

• To update participants on the most-recent vaccination guidelines from the Pediatric Disease Working Party of EBMT.

This webinar was accredited by the EBAH-CME credits system.

This webinar was hosted by Dr Gerard Socie and was moderated by Dr Zinaida Perić. 

Despite current prophylactic approaches nearly 40-50% of the patients still develop acute GVHD highlighting strong needs for improvement. In this Webinar, Dr Socie summarised what the current prophylactic approaches and the basis of current development in acute GVHD prophylaxis are. This Webinar described the scientific background, current results, and ongoing efforts of clinical trials aiming to decrease incidence and severity of acute GVHD.

Learning objectives:

• To be able to understand the current challenges and ongoing efforts to develop clinical trials for acute GVHD prophylaxis.

This webinar was accredited by the EBAH-CME credits system.

The webinar was hosted by Dr Sebastian Giebel and the panel of experts were Dr Josep-Maria Ribera and Dr Mohamad Mohty.

The webinar covered current results of commercially available anti-CD19 CAR-T cells for treating relapsed/refractory ALL in confrontation with outcomes of alloHCT. The dilemma of consolidative alloHCT following CAR-T cell therapy was discussed. Perspectives on the further development of CAR-T cells were presented, followed by visionary algorithms of the treatment of adults with ALL.

This webinar was organized by the Paediatric Diseases Working Party (PDWP). It was hosted by Dr Kris M. Mahadeo and moderated by Dr Hisham Abdel-Azim. Cancer immunotherapies have transformed our therapeutic armamentarium but are also with unique and severe toxicities, which may potentially result in rapid deterioration in health. Clinical applications for novel immune effector-cell therapies, including chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-expressing cells, and other immunotherapies, such as immune-checkpoint inhibitors, are increasing. Toxicity recognition, mitigation and treatment strategies are discussed in the context of existing literature and guidelines, with an emphasis on younger patients, as management strategies of this cohort may differ from adults.

Learning objectives:

• Discuss available Cancer Immunotherapies for Pediatric-AYA patients
• Describe unique toxicities associated with these therapies
• Review associated toxicity grading and management strategies
• Discuss ongoing efforts to mitigate associated toxicity

This webinar was accredited by the EBAH-CME credits system.

The webinar was hosted by Dr Marie Robin and the panel of experts was formed by Dr Nicolaus Kröger and Dr Donal McLornan. They discussed how to manage ruxolitinib in patients with myelofibrosis who have a potential indication of transplantation. The advantages of ruxolitinib before HSCT and the potential risk were displayed. The timing of HSCT in patients treated with ruxolitinib was addressed.

Learning objectives:

• To discuss the initiation of ruxolitinib in myelofibrosis patients candidates for transplantation.
• To discuss the management of myelofibrosis patients receiving ruxolitinib and who is a potential candidate for transplantation.

This webinar was hosted by Dr Giampaolo Merlini and will be moderated by Dr Stefan Schönland. It focused on the challenging aspects of the therapy of AL amyloidosis i.e., early and correct diagnosis, how to achieve a rapid and deep reduction of the amyloid light chains, the role of ASCT, the care of patients presenting with advanced cardiac involvement, removal of amyloid deposits and strategies to accelerate the recovery of target organs, trajectories for research and therapy.

Learning objectives:

To be able to:

• perform an appropriate diagnosis.
• treat according to the standard of care and recently published ISA guidelines.
• improve knowledge of perspectives in research and therapy.

This webinar was accredited by the EBAH-CME credits system.

This webinar was organized by the Paediatric Diseases Working Party (PDWP), hosted by Dr Francis Ayuk and moderated by Dr Daniel Wolff.

The webinar was hosted by Dr Malgorzata Mikulska and the panel of experts was formed by Dr Per Ljungman and Dr Sylvain Meylan.

Learning objectives:

• To be able to identify the setting in which MAbs have been shown useful.
• To distinguish between their use in prevention of SARS-CoV-2 infection and in prevention of severe COVID-19.
• To understand the challenges associated with the current use of MAbs.

This webinar was organized by the Paediatric Diseases Working Party (PDWP), hosted by Dr Jaap Jan Boelens and moderated by Dr Selim Corbacioglu.

Learning objectives:

• When dosed weight based rATG pharmacokinetics is highly variable and results in highly unpredictable outcomes.
• By individualizing rATG dosing, by considering the ALC prior to rATG dosing you can better predict immune reconstitution and subsequently survival.

This webinar was organized by the Paediatric Diseases Working Party (PDWP).

Speaker: Tayfun Güngör. Moderator: Marianne Ifversen

On the basis of case studies from Zurich and Copenhagen exemplary pulmonary complications after allogeneic HSCT are described. The differential diagnostic considerations, diagnostic measures and therapies applied are presented and discussed in the context of the existing literature and guidelines. Preventive measures as well as ways to avoid lung complications after allogeneic HSCT are described. The webinar`s content might be helpful to improve communication between HSCT and ICU physicians regarding prognosis of pulmonary complications in HSCT patients.

Learning objectives:

• Common patterns of pulmonary deterioration during and shortly after HSCT.
• Reasonable, quick, and secure diagnostics.
• Measures to prevent ICU transfer.
• Treatment options on the ventilator.
• Indication of ECMO.
• Feasibility of HSCT on the ventilator.

This webinar was hosted by Dr Georg Lenz and moderated by Dr Norbert Schmitz. It focused on the treatment options of patients with relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

After the webinar, participants should be able to understand:

• Different treatment options of patients with relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. 

This webinar was the first edition of the Panel Discussion, the new format consists of presenting a topic in 10 minutes followed by a 20 min panel discussion. The host was Dr Martin Dreyling and the invited experts were Dr Anna Sureda and Dr Sascha Dietrich.

After the webinar, participants should be able to understand:

• The heterogeneity of MCL and identify the different risk groups based on biological markers.
• The role of autologous transplantation as part of standard first line therapy in young patients.
• The potential of CAR-T cells in BTKi pretreated patients.
• The potentially curative approach of allogeneic transplantation in the therapeutic algorithm of MCL.

The live and interactive webinar was organized by the EBMT-PDWP. The speaker was Dr Christina Peters and the chair, Katharina Kleinschmidt.

Learning objectives:

• Graft-versus leukemia
• Optimal time for allogeneic HSCT: the value of minimal residual disease
• Selection of best available donors and cell sourcesUpdated Conditioning regimen
• Tailored procedures for particular patients: infants, trisomy 21, Ph-positive ALL

This was the first edition of the Practice changing Paper, the new format consists of presenting a recently published paper in 10 minutes followed by a 20 min panel discussion.

The RACE trial is a practice changing study for all patients suffering from severe aplastic anaemia involving 24 EBMT sites in 6 countries. 

Speaker:

• Régis Peffault de Latour. Full professor of hematology, head of the BMT Department in Saint-Louis Hospital and of the French Reference Center for Aplastic Anemia and PNH, Paris Cité University, Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris, Paris, France.

Panel experts:

• Antonio M Risitano. Head of Hematology and BMT Unit. AORN S. Giuseppe Moscati, Avellino. Professor of Hematology, Federico II University, Naples, Italy.
• Professor Andrea Bacigalupo, Department of Hematology. Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A.Gemelli IRCCS Universita’ Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. Rome, Italy.
• Phillip Scheinberg, MD. Hospital A Beneficência Portuguesa, São Paulo, Brazil.

Basic course in the use of statistical methods to analyse stem cell transplantation data.

It had two parts:

1. Collection of data, simple comparative analyses. Speaker: Richard Szydlo.

The first session covered the following topics:

• Best data collection practices using Excel and Access
• Basic descriptive and comparative statistical methods using a live analysis of data (with SPSS)
• Optimum methods for collecting data that require statistical analysis
• A review of the most commonly used statistical methods to describe and compare groups

2. Essential survival analysis methods. Speaker: Antonella Santucci. 

The second session covered the following topics:

• Interval Time of follow-up and the status variable (censored/event observations)
• How to collect data 
• The survival function
• Kaplan-Meier curves and the log rank test
• An introduction to Cox proportional hazard model
• Demonstrative exercises will be done by  using SPSS vers.25.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

One week before the event, all participants received access to on-demand content regarding theoretical information of “Essential survival analysis methods”. During the live event, more practical aspects were explained and there was time for questions and answers.

On-demand material and attendance certificate is available to consult for registered participants on the e-learning platform. 

Speakers:

• Dr Richard Szydlo, Medical Statistician, Department of Haematology, Imperial College, London, UK.
• Dr Antonella Santucci. Haemathology Institut University of Study of Perugia.

The EBMT Clinical Outcomes Group (COG) has developed the first phase of a bespoke risk-adapted international benchmarking model for one-year survival following allogeneic and autologous HSCT based on current capabilities within the EBMT registry core dataset. In November 2020, centres received the first data-completeness reports. This webinar will explain the origins and methodology of the model, the centre perspective and the next steps. The webinar will be an opportunity for users to address questions to the expert panel and to give feedback on this first report. This feedback will be taken into account for the next phase of this project.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the basis of the benchmarking model

• Learn to interpret the data-completeness report

• Hear of future plans for the model

Speaker panel:

Chair: 

• Professor John Snowden, Consultant Haematologist and Director of BMT, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust & University of Sheffield, UK.

Speakers: 

• Prof. Dr. Hein Putter. Biostatistician, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.

• Riccardo Saccardi, MD. Director, Cell Therapy and Transfusion Medicine Unit. Careggi University Hospital, Firenze, Italy.

• Professor John Snowden, Consultant Haematologist and Director of BMT, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust & University of Sheffield, UK.

Q&A Section: 

• Prof. Dr. Hein Putter. Biostatistician, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.

• Riccardo Saccardi, MD. Director, Cell Therapy and Transfusion Medicine Unit. Careggi University Hospital, Firenze, Italy.

• Professor John Snowden, Consultant Haematologist and Director of BMT, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust & University of Sheffield, UK.

• Dirk-Jan Eikema. Biostatistician specialized in survival analysis. EBMT.

• Isabel Sánchez-Ortega. Medical Officer. EBMT