UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center’s lymphoma program recently hosted the inaugural North Carolina-Virginia Lymphoma Conference.
Led by UNC Lineberger’s Anne Beaven, MD, Christopher Dittus, DO, MPH, and Natalie Grover, MD, with administrative support from Yvette Thompson, the conference drew 26 participants from UNC Chapel Hill, Duke University, Levine Cancer Institute, Wake Forest Baptist Hospital, East Carolina University, and Virginia Commonwealth University. The participants represented a range of specialties, including oncology, pathology, nursing and pharmacy.
The conference program featured two case presentations. Raghuveer Ranganathan, MD, a senior hematology-oncology fellow at UNC Lineberger, discussed the management of mantle cell lymphoma that has relapsed in the central nervous system (CNS). Danielle Shafer, DO, of Virginia Commonwealth University, presented the clinical approach to elderly patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma.
The conference concluded with a discussion of novel clinical trial ideas being developed at UNC Lineberger, Levine Cancer Institute, and Wake Forest, including treatment approaches for frontline and relapsed CNS lymphoma and the evaluation of side effects associated with common chemotherapy regimens used in lymphoma, with the goal of fostering multi-institutional collaboration in the future.
“The response to this first conference was excellent, and we’ve already agreed to meet every six months,” said Dittus. “While it is easy to communicate through email or phone calls, there is tremendous benefit when clinicians and researchers meet in person to discuss cases, share insights, and plan ways to collaborate more effectively in regional, multicenter clinical trials.”