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The World’s Leading Authority for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Patients

Dr. Brian Koffman's Blogs

Dr. Brian Koffman - CLL Society

“Join me as we explore, discover, read, and review the most current and vital content and information about CLL and its surrounding issues.”

The origin story of CLL Society is centered around Dr. Brian Koffman’s blog about his personal journey with CLL. Later, he blogged on the website about his tumultuous yet successful CAR-T experience. These are of more than historical interest. They provide an intimate window into how one individual made decisions, educated himself, and grew in his knowledge and commitment to helping everyone best this disease.

Dr. Koffman’s blog is arguably the most popular, trusted, and accessible beacon for over 20,000 readers every month who have had their lives touched by CLL. As a doctor-turned-CLL-patient, his popular blog and the wide scope of his volunteer efforts in other community and online patient advocacy and education has added an increasingly meaningful new dimension to his life’s work.

Dr. Brian Koffman earned his medical degree from McGill University and completed his family practice residency at the University of Western Ontario, and his Psychiatry Fellowship at McMaster University. Dr. Koffman taught at the University of Waterloo and is a retired Clinical Professor at the University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine where he also completed his Masters of Science in Medical Education.

FEATURE

Dr. Koffman’s New CLL Adventure –

My Personal Decision to Restart My CLL (Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia) Treatment

I have good reasons to believe it is time to retreat my CLL.

Before deciding on the best therapy choice to treat my CLL / SLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma), I first needed to determine if it was the right time to start therapy.

In most cases, the decision about when to treat CLL is usually just that: a decision. iwCLL has clear guidelines for when treatment is indicated, which we outline in this article: CLL: When to Watch and Wait and When to Start Treatment. I think these might be more helpful in outlining when therapy is not likely appropriate because none of the iwCLL indications are met. For example, someone might have a lymphocyte count that has reached 100,000 or even 500,000 and not need any therapy if they are feeling well and have no low blood counts.

Read more on Dr. Koffman’s Bispecific T-cell Engager (epcoritamab) Trial for CLL Blog.