Dr. Ansell on Difficult Challenges in the MCL Landscape

Stephen M. Ansell, MD, PhD, professor of medicine, Mayo Clinic, discusses difficult challenges to overcome in the landscape of mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

There are a few components of MCL that remain difficult, Ansell explains. For example, there is a variant of MCL called blastoid MCL. It is not a very common variant, but it is one that is very difficult to treat as many of the available therapies do not work well for this subgroup. Therefore, there needs to be specific therapies developed for them, he adds.

Secondly, patient selection remains difficult in identifying which patients are most likely to respond to treatment. Additionally, it would be helpful to know which patients are best to take an active surveillance approach on. Physicians need to be able to differentiate between the patients they need to treat and be more aggressive with versus those who may need far less therapy in, he says.