Dr. Radich on Compliance to NCCN Guidelines in CML

Jerald P. Radich, MD, clinical research division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, discusses compliance to the NCCN guidelines in the treatment of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).

A few years ago, 2 surveys were sent to physicians to assess the discrepancy between what physicians believe they are doing when treating patients, and what they actually do, says Radich. One survey was sent to 100 physicians asking the importance of the NCCN guidelines and whether they follow them. One hundred percent of physicians responded that they were exceedingly important, says Radich.

Another survey was done through a health registry where investigators could see exactly how many CML patients had molecular testing done. It is recommended that patients receive testing every 3 months, but the survey found that only 50% of patients were being tested once a year. Though adherence to the guidelines is better than it used to be, it still needs to be emphasized that the guidelines exist to aid physicians in making treatment decisions, says Radich.