Telephone Education Program Addresses Side Effects from Treatment for Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML)

Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
Tuesday, 15 July 2003

Free, Interactive Workshop Features Oncology Nurse Carolyn Blasdel

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the leading source of information and support for patients and families battling blood cancer, is offering a free telephone education workshop in conjunction with CancerCare entitled, "Living with CML: Managing the Side Effects."

The program, scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2003, 12 noon - 1 p.m. Eastern time, will feature Carolyn Blasdel, R.N., M.A., O.C.N., Clinical Research Nurse, the Center for Hematologic Malignancies at Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute, Portland, OR.

"Many patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia have to stay on treatment for a long time, and their challenge is to learn how to live with side effects that persist throughout their treatment," explains Robin Kornhaber, M.S.W., the Society's Senior Vice President of Patient Services. "This program will give the public an opportunity to learn about specific side effects and ways to manage them to improve the quality of life of patients and their families."

Blasdel's discussion will include: tips for coping with the most common side effects of treatment; the potential side effects of specific drug treatments, such as Gleevec, Interferon-alpha and Ara-C; and ways for patients to better communicate with their treatment teams. A question-and-answer period will follow.

Nurses who participate in the program will earn 1.0 Continuing Education contact hours. The program is the fifth in a series of the Societys CML Links teleconferences, supported by an education grant from Novartis Oncology. To view recent teleconferences, visit the "Teleconferences" section of the Society's CML Links Web site.

Registration

To register, call (888) 879-8823 and choose option 1; email cmllinks@cancereducation.com; or visit CML Links and click on "Teleconferences." Registrants will receive an information packet and toll-free dial-in number within 48 hours of signing up.

Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), also known as chronic granulocytic, chronic myelocytic or chronic myeloid leukemia, results from an acquired injury to the DNA of a stem cell in the bone marrow. The change in the DNA, in turn, confers a growth and survival advantage on the malignant stem cell. The result is the uncontrolled growth of white blood cells, which, if unchecked, leads to a massive increase in their concentration in the blood. Unlike acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), CML permits the development of mature white blood cells that generally can function normally. This important distinction from acute leukemia accounts for CML's less severe early course.

About 4,300 new cases of CML are diagnosed each year in the United States. Most CML cases occur in adults, but children may develop the disease, which accounts for about two percent of childhood leukemia cases. The frequency of the disease increases with age from being extremely rare in children in the first 19 years of life to 1.3 per 100,000 people at age 50, to approximately one in 10,000 people at age 80 and above.

About the Society

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, based in White Plains, NY, is the world's largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research and providing education and patient services. The Society's mission is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and to improve the quality of life of patients and their families. Since its founding in 1949, the Society has provided more than $358 million for research specifically targeting blood cancers.

The Society offers teleconferences, Webcasts and other educational programs throughout the year. For more information about blood cancer, visit www.LLS.org or call the Society's Information Resource Center (IRC), a call center staffed by master's level social workers, nurses and health educators who provide information, support and resources to patients and their families and caregivers. IRC information specialists are available at (800) 955-4572 from Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

For more information, or to contact Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, see their website at: www.leukemia.org