The CAR-T Blog
“Join me as we explore, discover, read, and review the most current and vital content and information about CLL and its surrounding issues.”
Yesterday, April 6, 2022, I had 2½ years of hair growth shorn. My last haircut had been before the annual ASH conference held in December 2019.
On March 22, 2018, I was an outpatient at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance where I was transfused with my own T-cells that had been harvested a few weeks earlier, then genetically reengineered to attack my cancer, multiplied manyfold, then reinjected into my bloodstream to rest up, grow again,
Bill Ludwig, 75, of Upper Deerfield Township passed away on Sunday, January 31, 2021 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania where he had been hospitalized since December 1, 2020. This is the same hospital where, 10 years earlier, his life and the whole world of cancer treatment
🎶 It was 2 short years ago today, my CAR-T cells really learnt to play, They have been going in and out of glands, no guarantee that they would expand But let me tell their story to you, the treatment that so new these years, Brian Koffman’s splendid CAR-T
I have not been able to eat grapefruit for more than a dozen years due to its annoying chemistry that interferes with the metabolism of multiple medications. It has been called the forbidden fruit due to its potent inhibition of cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) that can lead to toxic
I stopped taking ibrutinib on February 20, 2020, a few months short of my 8-year anniversary. As I discussed in my last blog post, this was a difficult decision with conflicting advice. Would my CLL remain quiescent or would my lymphocyte count shoot up? Would my ITP (immune thrombocytopenic
On May 7, 2012 I took my first dose of PCI-32765 at Ohio State University, in Columbus, OH as part of a phase 1 trial of the drug that would later revolutionize the treatment of CLL as ibrutunib. But for the first several years it was known only by
Dr. Brian Koffman explains his post-CAR-T bone marrow biopsy which will employ next generation sequencing by means of clonoSEQ testing that can find as few as one in a million CLL cells, not by looking for the cells themselves, as flow cytometry does when it scans the cells’ surface
Our own Dr. Koffman was interviewed at ASH 2019 about importance of attending ASH for advocates, his own research, his highlights from ASH and much more. You can watch it here.
Dr. Brian Koffman gives his updated medical report, post CAR-T for CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia: “My first imaging (MRI) since leaving Seattle for home post CAR-T was a few weeks ago, about 21 months post CAR-T and it found “that all my lymph nodes had shrunk to normal size
In the Dec 23, 2019 episode of Hidden Forces, “Demetri Kofinas speaks with Brian Koffman, a doctor turned CLL patient, whose patient education and advocacy efforts have given hope and encouragement to CLL cancer patients everywhere.” “Brian Koffman is extraordinary, in many ways. He’s extraordinary in the medical sense
Lab results one and half years post CAR-T therapy are very good. My absolute lymphocyte count is low- about 1,000. Not much room for cancer to hide there. I am not anemic. Hemoglobin is in the middle of the normal range for the first time in forever. My platelets
I am taking down my shingle as a family doctor for good. I am officially retired. I am giving up the practice of medicine that I loved for so many years. It is very hard. So why do it? So that I can focus with no distraction and no
At the EHA (European Hematology Assoc.) Annual Congress in Amsterdam in June of 2019, I was interviewed by EHA TV following my session on CAR-T therapy. I was asked about my experience as a patient/physician going through the therapy and about what advice I would give to a patient
So tired. I have been tired and sleepy for weeks now. Which is weird as my CLL is in a deep deep deep remission. I first blamed it on stress- have a googol of problems weighing on me, but I usually cope well with pressure. Been traveling >100,000 miles
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