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Hematologic Toxicities: Management of irAEs Guideline (Part 10) Nov 11, 2021

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An interview with Dr. Loretta Nastoupil from MD Anderson Cancer Center, author on "Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy: ASCO Guideline Update." She discusses the identification, evaluation, and management of hematologic toxicities in patients receiving ICPis, including hemolytic anemia among others in Part 10 of this 13-part series. For more information visit www.asco.org/supportive-care-guidelines TRANSCRIPT [MUSIC PLAYING] SPEAKER: The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform. This is not a substitute for professional medical care and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or treatment of individual conditions. Guests on this podcast express their own opinions, experience, and conclusions. The mention of any product, service, organization, activity, or therapy should not be construed as an ASCO endorsement. BRITTANY HARVEY: Hello, and welcome to the ASCO Guidelines podcast series brought to you by the ASCO Podcast Network, a collection of nine programs covering a range of educational and scientific content and offering enriching insight into the world of cancer care. You can find all the shows, including this one, at asco.org/podcasts. My name is Brittany Harvey. And today, we're continuing our series on the management of immune-related adverse events. I am joined by Dr. Loretta Nastoupil from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, author on Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated with Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy: ASCO Guideline Update, and Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated with Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy: ASCO Guideline. And today, we're focusing on hematologic toxicities in patients treated with immune-checkpoint inhibitor therapy. Thank you for being here, Dr. Nastoupil. LORETTA NASTOUPIL: Thanks, Brittany. I'm happy to be here. BRITTANY HARVEY: Great. Then first I'd like to note that ASCO takes great care in the development of its guidelines and ensuring that the ASCO conflict of interest policy is followed for each guideline. The full conflict of interest information for this guideline panel is available online with the publication of the guidelines in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Dr. Nastoupil, do you have any relevant disclosures that are related to these guidelines? LORETTA NASTOUPIL: Yes, Brittany. So I have received honorarium for participation in advisory boards from the following companies, including BMS/Celgene, Genentech, Janssen, Novartis, Merck, MorphoSys TG Therapeutics, and Takeda. And I've also received research funding support from BMS/Celgene, Gilead Kite, Genentech, Janssen, Novartis and Takeda. BRITTANY HARVEY: Thank you for those disclosures. Then let's get into what we're here today to talk about. So what are the immune-related hematologic toxicities addressed in this guideline? LORETTA NASTOUPIL: So it's important to recognize that hematologic toxicities that are immune-related as a result of immune therapy are infrequent occurrences. So it's important to recognize when they do occur and some of the unique workups given that they are so infrequent. So probably one of the most common is hemolytic anemia. It's important to recognize that these are cancer patients. And they may have multiple reasons for the development of acute or new onset anemia, but recognizing if they're on either checkpoint inhibitors or immune therapies, it's important to recognize that it might be spurred on as a result of immune-mediated anemia. We advise in terms of history and workup to consider whether or not they've been exposed to new drugs, whether or not they've had a recent insect or snakebite exposure. The recommended workup includes a CBC with also a peripheral blood smear to look for evidence of hemolysis or macrocytosis. In addition, other hemolytic anemia workup includes evaluation for LDH, haptoglobin, reticulocyte count, bilirubin, and free hemoglobin. Other potential diagnoses on the differential include DIC, so a panel, including coags, PT, INR, and PTT, exploring autoimmune serologies, PNH screening, evaluation for infection such as viral or bacterial causes of hemolysis, and also consideration for bone marrow failure syndrome, including evaluation for potentially reversible causes, such as B12, folate, copper, parvovirus, iron, thyroid, infection, et cetera. G6PD level is helpful in the evaluation, as well as exploration as I mentioned of potentially new drugs that might be linked, including ribavirin, rifampin, dapsone, interferon, some of the antibiotics, such as cephalosporins, penicillins, NSAIDs, ciprofloxacin, for instance, et cetera. So as part of the workup, if we have excluded alternative causes and we think that the immune-checkpoint inhibitor might be the underlying cause of the autoimmune hemolytic anemia, then generally we will continue unless they have grade 2 or higher toxicity, which is generally a hemoglobin less than 10. In which case, we would recommend to hold the immune-checkpoint inhibitor, again, with significant anemia. So those with grade 2 or higher, you might consider initiating corticosteroids, including 1.5 to 1 milligram per kilogram per day until improvement. For grade 3 or higher-- so this is more severe anemia, so hemoglobin is less than 8. Generally, we're recommending permanent discontinuation of the checkpoint inhibitor and potentially higher doses, including up to 2 milligrams per kilogram per day of prednisone or corticosteroid equivalent to speed up the recovery. In regards to transfusion requirements or consideration, we are suggesting you evaluate or consider your local or regional guidelines. We generally do not transfuse for a target hemoglobin greater than seven to eight. And we also recommend supplementation with folic acid. BRITTANY HARVEY: Great. And then beyond those recommendations for hemolytic anemia, what are the key recommendations for identification, evaluation, and management of acquired thrombotic thrombocytopenia purpura? LORETTA NASTOUPIL: Sure. So fortunately, TTP is quite rare, but, again, something that is worth exploring. Some of the challenges are in the clinical syndrome. And that it can mimic some of the other toxicities that are covered in other sections, particularly the neurotoxicity section. But essentially, for patients who have pretty dramatic change in platelet count, again, they may have additional clinical sequelae such as neurologic toxicity or adverse events. It's important to recognize that TTP might be an underlying cause, again, for patients who are on immune-checkpoint inhibitors. This is where a hematology consult early in the clinical course would be particularly of importance to recognize it and potentially to minimize offending agents. Drug exposure is always important, because many of these patients might have other drugs, in addition to their immune-checkpoint inhibitors, such as chemotherapy, sirolimus, tacrolimus, antibiotics et cetera. And so exploring offending agents is important. An ADAMTS13 level, an inhibitor titer, would be important to send if you're considering TTP, in addition to evaluating the peripheral smear, and the hemolytic anemia workup, as I just mentioned, including LDH, haptoglobin and reticulocyte count. Exploring infectious etiology, including CMV titers or serology, would be particularly helpful, an additional clinical evaluation, such as brain imaging with CT or MRI, echocardiogram, and EKG would be of help. For all grades of TTP, again, even with a clinical suspicion for the diagnosis, in addition to hematology consult, we recommend stabilizing the patient. That might require care in an acute care setting, making sure that they have adequate organ function and that this is stabilized. For grade 1 or higher, we recommend holding the immune-checkpoint inhibitor. And you might consider, again, initiation of corticosteroids with 0.5 to 1 milligram per kilogram per day of prednisone or an equivalent. For grade 3 or higher, we would, again, in addition to holding the checkpoint inhibitor and in conjunction with your hematology colleagues, you might initiate a therapeutic plasma exchange. Again, in accordance with existing guidelines, you may consider higher doses of steroids, including methylprednisolone 1 gram IV daily for three days. You could consider some additional supportive agents, such as rituximab or pembrolizumab if the ADAMTS13 level is less than 10 or less than 10% of normal and an inhibitor or elevated ADAMTS13 IgG has been detected. BRITTANY HARVEY: I appreciate you going through the details for TTP. So then, additionally, this guideline addresses aplastic anemia. So what are the key recommendations for identification, evaluation, and management of aplastic anemia? LORETTA NASTOUPIL: Yeah. So, fortunately, again, these are quite rare situations. So with aplastic anemia, similar to what we've discussed in terms of workup of anemia, globally, it's important to explore potentially causes of, again, bone marrow failure syndrome. And aplastic anemia is one of those such causes. Exploration of a bone marrow biopsy in conjunction, again, with your hematology consult would be critically important, and exploring potentially reversible causes, again, such as deficiencies and important nutrients, viral etiologies, in addition to parvovirus, CMV, HHV-6 is important to consider and rule out. But I think the end of the day, a bone marrow biopsy and aspirate is going to be the most helpful assessment to ensure that aplastic anemia has been considered and worked up. In regards to management of aplastic anemia, we're going to hold the immune-checkpoint inhibitor. You may need to provide additional support such as growth factors. And close follow-up, I think is the most critical aspect of this. Sometimes we initiate patients on corticosteroids. We hold the checkpoint inhibitor. And then we may monitor them less frequently. Oftentimes, these patients with high malignancies are going to need to be followed very closely, sometimes weekly or multiple times a week. So in regards to management of aplastic anemia that might be immune-mediated as a result of immune-checkpoint inhibitors and in conjunction with your hematology and colleagues, consideration of management might include administration of horse ATG and cyclosporine, but again transfusion support, growth factor support, even consideration for HLA typing and evaluation first. Stem cell transplantation might be appropriate, particularly for a young patient with minimal comorbidities. For grade 3 or higher, in addition to these considerations, we're going to hold the checkpoint inhibitor and monitor weekly for improvement. If no response, you might consider repeating immune suppression with Rabbit ATG plus cyclosporine or cyclophosphamide. And for refractory patients, consider eltrombopag plus best supportive care. BRITTANY HARVEY: Great. Thank you. Those are important notes on the management of aplastic anemia. So then, additionally, what are the key recommendations for the identification, evaluation, and management of lymphopenia? LORETTA NASTOUPIL: Yeah. I think one of the challenges with lymphopenia, it's common for patients who've had cancer-directed therapy, particularly things like chemotherapy. And so understanding whether or not this is a new onset after exposure to checkpoint inhibitors is one of the critical aspects, in addition to considering alternative causes. But for patients in which we do think the lymphopenia is a result of the immune-checkpoint inhibitor, we're not generally advising discontinuation or holding of the immune-checkpoint inhibitor, but it is important to consider best supportive measures, including whether or not patients might benefit from monitoring for reactivation of certain viral etiologies, including CMV and HHV-6, for instance, in addition to potential consideration for prophylactic strategies, such as PJP prophylaxis. Also, zoster reactivation might be something that these patients might indeed be at risk for. So as opposed to holding your checkpoint inhibitor and initiating things like corticosteroids, if we have excluded alternative causes and think lymphopenia is a result of the immune-checkpoint inhibitor or as immune-mediated, ensuring that they are receiving best supportive care to mitigate some of their toxicity that may result as the result of the lymphopenia. BRITTANY HARVEY: Understood. And it's important to note for clinicians that management is different from a lot of the management of the other hematologic toxicities. So then the last hematologic toxicity that was addressed in this guideline was acquired hemophilia A. So what are those key recommendations? LORETTA NASTOUPIL: Acquired hemophilia A, again, fortunately is very rare and uncommon, but this is one situation where engagement of a hematologist, who is an expert in management of hemophilia, will be critical. So that would potentially be step one. In terms of laboratory assessment, that would be helpful, in addition to your CBC, where you're assessing things like platelet count, coagulation workup, including fibrinogen, PT, PTT, INR, that would be informative. Patients with acquired hemophilia A will likely have a prolonged activated PTT with a normal PT. So that might be one of the clues. Imaging would be helpful to ensure the patients don't have any signs of spontaneous bleeding or hematosis, such as MRI, CT, or ultrasound, if particularly they have any localizing symptoms. Medication review to look for alternative causes would always be helpful. And determination of the Bethesda unit level of inhibitor would be critical. In regards to management, we would hold the checkpoint inhibitor, initiate corticosteroids, transfusion support as indicated, and you want to treat the underlying acquired hemophilia with conjunction of a hematologist. For grade 2 or higher, this may require factor replacement. And the choice is usually based on the Bethesda unit of the titer. Administration of prednisone, in addition to rituximab 375 milligrams per meter squared weekly for four weeks or cyclophosphamide dosed at 1 to 2 milligrams per kilogram per day may be patient-specific. And, again, that decision should be made in conjunction with your hematology consult. Prednisone, rituximab, and cyclophosphamide should be given for a minimum of five weeks. And factors should be prescribed to increase the level, particularly during bleeding episodes. And, again, the choice of the factor is based on the presence or absence of an inhibitor. For grade 3 or higher, we advise to permanently discontinue the immune-checkpoint inhibitor. These patients generally will be admitted for stabilization. They do require factor replacement. Bypassing agents may also be required, including factor VII. Caution should be taken in elderly patients and those with coronary artery disease. Corticosteroids, rituximab, and cyclophosphamide should also be considered, transfusion support, if they're having active bleeding. And if worsening or no improvement, you could consider adding cyclosporine or immune suppression to try and stabilize these patients. Again, acquired hemophilia A requires special clinical and laboratory expertise. This would require consult and potentially even transfer to a specialized center, and consultation with a hemophilia center should be initiated as soon as this is considered or confirmed. BRITTANY HARVEY: That's a great summary of these recommendations. The expert panel and you clearly put in a lot of work into these recommendations. So then in your view, how will these recommendations for the management of hematologic toxicities impact both clinicians and patients? LORETTA NASTOUPIL: I thi…

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Nervous System Toxicities: Management of irAEs Guideline (Part 9) Nov 10, 2021

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An interview with Dr. Bianca Santomasso from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, author on "Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy: ASCO Guideline Update." She reviews neurologic toxicities in patients receiving ICPis, such as myasthenia gravis, Guillain-Barre Syndrome, peripheral neuropathy, aseptic meningitis & encephalitis in Part 9 of this 13-part series. For more information visit www.asco.org/supportive-care-guidelines TRANSCRIPT [MUSIC PLAYING] SPEAKER: The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform. This is not a substitute for professional medical care and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or treatment of individual conditions. Guests on this podcast express their own opinions, experience, and conclusions. The mention of any product, service, organization, activity, or therapy should not be construed as an ASCO endorsement. BRITTANY HARVEY: Hello and welcome to the ASCO Guidelines Podcast series, brought to you by the ASCO Podcast Network, a collection of nine programs covering a range of educational and scientific content, and offering enriching insight into the world of cancer care. You can find all the shows, including this one, at asco.org/podcasts. My name is Brittany Harvey, and today, we're continuing our series on the management of immune-related adverse events. I am joined by Dr. Bianca Santomasso from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, New York, author on Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated with Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy: ASCO Guideline Update, and Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated with Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell Therapy: ASCO Guideline. And today, we're focusing on nervous system toxicities in patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. Thank you for being here, Dr. Santomasso. BIANCA SANTOMASSO: Thank you for having me. BRITTANY HARVEY: Then I'd like to note that ASCO takes great care in the development of its guidelines and ensuring that the ASCO conflict of interest policy is followed for each guideline. The full conflict of interest information for this guideline panel is available online with the publication of the guidelines in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Dr. Santomasso, do you have any relevant disclosures that are directly related to these guidelines? BIANCA SANTOMASSO: Yes, I'd like to disclose that I've served as a paid consultant for Celgene, Janssen Pharmaceutical, and Legend Biotech for advising them on the topics of CAR T cell therapy side effects. BRITTANY HARVEY: Thank you. Then getting into the content of this guideline, what are the immune-related nervous system toxicities addressed in this guideline? And what are the overarching recommendations for evaluation of these neurologic immune-related adverse events? BIANCA SANTOMASSO: So neurologic immune-related adverse events actually encompass a very diverse spectrum of neurologic syndromes that can occur as a complication of treatment with checkpoint inhibitors. So the spectrum that is covered by this guideline includes myasthenia gravis, Guillain-Barre syndrome, polyneuropathy, aseptic meningitis, and encephalitis. And although these are rarer than many of the other immune-related adverse event types affecting other organ systems, they're increasingly being encountered due to more patients being treated with novel combinations of immunotherapies. And they're important to recognize, because along with myocarditis, they have generally more morbidity and even more mortality than irAEs affecting other organ systems. So it's important for clinical care providers to have a high index of suspicion for these events. Studies have suggested that these tend to occur in about 3% to 12% of patients, probably between 1% and 2% of patients developing severe events. So they're rare. But again, the events are probably more commonly seen in patients treated with combination checkpoint blockade. And we're increasingly seeing more combinations. So we should be on the lookout for these. Neurologic immune-related adverse events can be divided into syndromes that affect the peripheral nervous system, so meaning the peripheral nerves, the neuromuscular junction, and muscle. So that would be Guillain-Barre syndrome, myasthenia gravis, and myositis. And those that affect the central nervous system, such as the brain, spinal cord, or leptomeninges. So those would be aseptic meningitis and encephalitis. The peripheral nervous system irAE appear to be more common than those affecting the central nervous system. And patients can present with a number of different symptoms that kind of relate to these syndromes. That can be as diverse as a headache to numbness, tingling, or focal weakness, such as a foot drop or facial weakness. You may see patients with severe altered mental status or personality changes or gait difficulty, walking difficulty, which could actually mean any number of syndromes. It's generally important to be aware that the timing of onset is generally early, a median of four weeks after the start of treatment, but can range anywhere from one week after the start of treatment to greater than a year. And because we know that cancer can spread to many parts of the nervous system, neurologic toxicity should be considered a diagnosis of exclusion. So that means that as part of the workup for neurologic immune-related adverse events, it's imperative to rule out nervous system metastasis, stroke, and infection, which we know can occur at higher rates in patients with cancer. So for most neurologic immune-related adverse events, diagnostic workup is similar. It should include MRI brain and/or of the spine, with and without contrast, and often a lumbar puncture for cerebrospinal fluid analysis, including cytology to rule out leptomeningeal metastasis. BRITTANY HARVEY: Thank you for that overview. In addition to those points for evaluation for all nervous system toxicities, what are the key recommendations for identification, evaluation, and management of myasthenia gravis? BIANCA SANTOMASSO: So for myasthenia gravis, presenting symptoms usually include fatiguable or fluctuating muscle weakness. It's generally more proximal than distal. And there's frequently ocular and/or bulbar involvement. So that means either ptosis, like a droopy eyelid, diplopia, or double vision, difficulty swallowing, dysarthria, facial muscle weakness, and/or head drop or neck weakness. Again, for any patient with new neurologic symptoms, an MRI of the brain or spine should be performed depending upon the symptoms to rule out central nervous system involvement by disease or some alternative diagnosis. And similar to idiopathic myasthenia gravis, acetylcholine receptor antibodies can be positive. So these should be checked. This is a blood test. But it's important to note that while these antibodies may be confirmatory, their absence does not rule out the syndrome. The rate of acetylcholine receptor antibody positivity in immune-related myasthenia gravis has not been definitively established. So depending on the presentation, one might also consider sending a paraneoplastic panel for Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome. The single most important point I'd like to make regarding suspected immune-related myasthenia gravis is that orbital myositis and generalized myositis from immune checkpoint inhibitors can present similarly. For this reason, early neurology consultation and electrodiagnostic testing with repetitive stimulation or single fiber EMG becomes important and helpful to distinguish the two. And to make matters even more complicated, we've learned that there's an overlap syndrome, where patients may develop not only myasthenia gravis, but also myositis and/or myocarditis at the same time. So basically, the neuromuscular junction is affected. But the local muscle and myocardium, which is heart muscle that's kind of related, may be affected all at once. And this overlap of syndromes may increase disease severity and mortality. So they're important to recognize. So what this means is that when you encounter a patient with suspected myasthenia gravis, you should also be checking CPK, muscle enzymes, aldolase to evaluate for myositis, and troponin and electrocardiogram to evaluate for myocarditis. And this should be done even if there are no obvious symptoms. So onto the treatment of myasthenia gravis, this is similar to the management of the idiopathic form. Therefore, it's helpful to have the involvement of a neurologist. The immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy should be held. And patients with mild symptoms are often started on pyridostigmine and corticosteroids. And patients with more severe symptoms should initiate IVIG or plasmapheresis. And patients with more severe symptoms may need to be admitted to the hospital. So that their neurologic and pulmonary status can be monitored closely for improvement. Some patients may require ICU level of monitoring. And considering adding rituximab if symptoms are refractory, and often, as symptoms improve, the steroids can be de-escalated. BRITTANY HARVEY: Understood. Those are all very important points for clinicians to consider. So then following that, what are the key recommendations for identification, evaluation, and management of Guillain-Barre syndrome? BIANCA SANTOMASSO: So Guillain-Barre syndrome, like myasthenia gravis, also presents with weakness. Most often, patients present with a progressive ascending muscle weakness. The syndrome can start with sensory symptoms or neuropathic pain that can be localized to the lower back and thighs. In addition to the classic ascending weakness, there may be facial weakness, double vision, numbness or tingling in the hands or feet, loss of balance, and coordination. And shortness of breath may occur due to respiratory muscle weakness. The autonomic nerves can also be affected and can present as new severe constipation or nausea, urinary problems, or orthostatic hypotension. The reflexes are often reduced or absent, deep tendon reflexes. So again, as for all of the syndromes, early involvement by a neurologist is recommended, if possible. Usually, MRI imaging of the spine is important to rule out spinal cord compression. And it also may show cauda nerve thickening or enhancement, which can occur with this syndrome. And the second aspect is cerebrospinal fluid analysis is important for diagnosis. This is important really for ruling out leptomeningeal metastasis, since that could present similarly. And often, what can be seen in GBS is an elevated protein level in the cerebrospinal fluid. In addition, unlike idiopathic GBS, there can be an elevated white blood cell count in the cerebrospinal fluid. Electrode diagnostic testing can also be helpful for confirmation, and serum tests for antiganglioside antibodies, and a paraneoplastic antibody workup may also be considered. Bedside pulmonary function test and swallowing evaluation should be performed if there's a concern for respiratory or swallowing dysfunction. And some patients do need to have inpatient admission and monitoring if symptoms are severe or if they appear to be progressing from mild. For management, the checkpoint inhibitor therapy should be held. And patients are most often treated with IVIG or plasmapheresis. Corticosteroids can be added to the IVIG or plasmapheresis. These are not usually recommended for idiopathic Guillain-Barre syndrome. However, in immune checkpoint inhibitor-related forms, a trial is reasonable. And steroids are usually given at a higher dose for five days and then tapered over several weeks. BRITTANY HARVEY: Understood. I appreciate that overview. So then what are the key recommendations for identification, evaluation, and management of peripheral neuropathy? BIANCA SANTOMASSO: So peripheral neuropathy, or polyneuropathy, is a rare but likely underreported complication of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. So in the large databases and meta-analyses, those have really focused on Guillain-Barre syndrome for reporting. But other types of neuropathies, such as painful length dependent sensory and motor axonal neuropathies, or polyradiculopathies or sensory neuropathies do occur after immune checkpoint inhibitors and are probably under-recognized. So evaluation of immune related neuropathy should include neurology consultation to guide the neurology phenotype determination and also the workup. The evaluation primarily relies on a combination of electrodiagnostic studies, serologic tests, and MRI neuroimaging. Because peripheral nervous syndromes can overlap, screening for neuromuscular junction dysfunction with electrodiagnostic testing and myopathy is recommended for any patient who presents with at least motor symptoms that are thought to be peripheral. Serum testing can be helpful for ruling out reversible causes of neuropathy. Spinal imaging is recommended to exclude metastatic disease. And for management, it usually involves holding the checkpoint inhibitor in mild cases, using neuropathic pain medication or steroids in more severe cases. And very severe cases that kind of resembled GBS would be managed as per the GBS algorithm with IVIG or plasmapheresis. BRITTANY HARVEY: Understood. And it's key to look out for those overlapping adverse events. So then following that, what are the key recommendations for aseptic meningitis? BIANCA SANTOMASSO: Right, so now we're getting into the central nervous system toxicity. So aseptic meningitis is an inflammation of the meninges. And it can present with headache, photophobia, neck stiffness. Patients can have nausea, and vomiting, and occasionally fever. The mental status is usually normal. And in patients presenting with headache, which in isolation, could suggest an aseptic meningitis, it's important to evaluate if they have any confusion or altered behavior, which might suggest an encephalitis. And this distinction is important, because suspected encephalitis triggers a different workup, which we'll be discussing later, and also even different management. So the workup for aseptic meningitis includes neuroimaging, usually an MRI of the brain. And on that imaging, we sometimes see abnormal leptomeningeal enhancement. It's important not to assume that this is cancer and to do a lumbar puncture to evaluate cerebrospinal fluid both for inflammation and to exclude other causes of meningeal disease, particularly neoplastic and infectious causes. So cytology, Gram stain, and culture, and other infectious studies should be negative. And it's recommended that empiric antibiotics or antiviral therapy be considered to cover for infectious meningitis until the cerebrospinal fluid results return negative. What's seen in the cerebrospinal fluid in aseptic meningitis is typically reactive lymphocytes, but also neutrophils or histiocytes may be prominent on the cytology. And while the symptoms can be severe, sometimes requiring hospitalization, the management of this entity, these are usually quite treatable. Aseptic meningitis generally responds very well to corticosteroids. So management involves holding the checkpoint inhibitor. And you can often get away with starting a fairly modest dose of corticosteroids, such as oral prednisone, 0.5 to 1 milligram per kilogram or the equivalent. And steroids can usually be tapered over two to four weeks. BRITTANY HARVEY: Great, thank you for reviewing those recommendations. So then you just mentioned the distinction of aseptic meningitis and encephalitis. So what are those key recommendations for identification, evaluation, and management of encephalitis? BIANCA SANTOMASSO: So in encephalitis, the mental status is not normal. It's characterized by, rea…

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Renal Toxicities: Management of irAEs Guideline (Part 8) Nov 09, 2021

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An interview with Dr. Umang Swami from the Huntsman Cancer Institute, author on "Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy: ASCO Guideline Update." He discusses the identification, evaluation, and management of renal toxicities in patients receiving ICPis, focusing on nephritis/acute kidney injury in Part 8 of this 13-part series. For more information visit www.asco.org/supportive-care-guidelines

TRANSCRIPT

[MUSIC PLAYING]

SPEAKER: The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform. This is not a substitute for professional medical care, and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or treatment of individual conditions. Guests on this podcast express their own opinions, experience, and conclusions. The mention of any product, service, organization, activity, or therapy should not be construed as an ASCO endorsement.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

BRITTANY HARVEY: Hello, and welcome to the ASCO Guidelines podcast series brought to you by the ASCO Podcast Network, a collection of nine programs covering a range of educational and scientific content, and offering enriching insight into the world of cancer care. You can find all the shows, including this one, at asco.org/podcasts. My name is Brittany Harvey, and today, we're continuing our series on the management of immune-related adverse events.

I am joined by Dr. Umang Swami from the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah, author on Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated with Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy: ASCO Guideline Update, and Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated with Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell Therapy: ASCO Guideline. And today, we're focusing on renal toxicities in patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. Thank you for being here, Dr. Swami.

UMANG SWAMI: Thank you, Brittany. And I appreciate the invitation to be here today.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Great. Then first, I'd like to note that ASCO takes great care in the development of its guidelines and ensuring that the ASCO conflict of interest policy is followed for each guideline. The full conflict of interest information for this guideline panel is available online with the publication of the guidelines in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Dr. Swami, do you have any relevant disclosures that are directly related to these guidelines?

UMANG SWAMI: No, I do not have any relevant disclosures that are directly related to these guidelines.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Thank you. Then let's dive into what we're here today to talk about. So what are these immune-related renal toxicities that are addressed in this guideline?

UMANG SWAMI: So this guideline focuses on nephritis, or acute kidney injury, as an adverse event due to immunotherapy. Acute kidney injury, or AKI, is an uncommon complication of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. Just to give a little context before we start, the incidence of any grade AKI is around 1% to 2% in patients treated with a single agent immune checkpoint inhibitor, such as ipilimumab, nivolumab, or pembrolizumab, and 4.5% in those treated with anti-CTLA-4 for and anti-PD-1 combination of nivolumab plus ipilimumab therapy. The incidence of grade 3 or grade 4 AKI is very low. I will say less than 1% with single agents, and around 1.6% with the combination of nivolumab plus ipilimumab.

While initial studies had quoted a small incidence of AKI with immune checkpoint inhibitor use, emerging data now suggests that a higher incidence might be present, which might range between 9.9% to around 29% of AKI with the immune checkpoint inhibitors. However, most of this extra toxicity is grade 1. The median time to onset of renal toxicity with these agents is around 14 weeks, but can range from 6.5 to 21 weeks.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Thank you for that background information. I think it's helpful for clinicians to understand how rare or common these adverse events are. So then, what are the key recommendations for identification, evaluation, and management of nephritis or acute kidney injury?

UMANG SWAMI: That's a great question. Presenting symptoms related to immune therapy-induced renal toxicities may include urinary frequency, dark, cloudy urine, fluid retention, or edema of face, abdomen, extremities. There might be sudden weight gain. There might be associated abdominal or pelvic pain. Patients might have nausea, vomiting, high blood pressure, or they may have a change in mental status such as drowsiness. However, we should remember that a vast majority of them will be asymptomatic at presentation. Therefore, patients should have their renal function, that is, serum creatinine, checked prior to administration of each dose of checkpoint inhibitor therapy.

For patients with new elevations in creatinine, one should consider holding checkpoint inhibitor therapy while other potential causes are evaluated. These other causes may include recent IV radiographic contrast administration, dehydration, urinary tract infection, other natural toxic medications, including concurrent chemotherapy, herbals, or other supplements. Patients without their obvious causes or who don't respond to alternative treatment measures should be presumed to have immune-related renal toxicity and treated empirically depending on the grade of AKI.

Safe treatment of autoimmune component is important. So with regards to the grading of AKI, grade 1 means a creatinine level increase of more than 0.3 milligrams per deciliter, or creatinine 1.5 to two times above baseline. And in this situation, physicians should consider temporarily holding checkpoint inhibitor therapy and evaluating other potential contributing agents in combination regimes, pending consideration of potential alternative pathologies. A change that is still less than 1.5 times of upper limit of normal could be meaningful and should be remembered.

For grade 2 AKI, which is creatinine two to three times above baseline, apart from holding immune checkpoint inhibitor and evaluating for alternative causes, nephrology should be consulted. If other etiologies are ruled out, administer 0.5 to 1 milligram per kg per day prednisone or its equivalent. If kidney function worsens or does not improve after one week, increase the dose of prednisone to 1 to 2 milligrams per kg per day or its equivalent, and permanently discontinue immune checkpoint inhibitor.

If the AKI improves to grade 1 or less, taper steroids over at least four weeks, otherwise we might see recurrence. If there is no recurrence, a physician might discuss resumption of immune checkpoint inhibitor with patient after taking into account what are the risks and what are the benefits. Resumption of immune checkpoint inhibitor can be considered once steroids have been successfully tapered to 10 milligrams per day or less, or discontinued. However, if elevation persists for more than seven days or worsens, and no cause is found, then the grade 2 AKI needs to be treated as grade 3.

Now grade 3 and grade 4 AKI are managed similarly. Grade 3 AKI is defined as creatinine more than three times the baseline, or more than 4 milligrams per deciliter, or when hospitalization is indicated. And grade 4 AKI defined as an AKI associated with life-threatening consequences, when dialysis is indicated, or creatinine six times above baseline.

Management includes nephrology consult, evaluation for alternative causes, and permanent discontinuation of immune checkpoint inhibitor. If they are directly implicated in renal toxicity, the administration of corticosteroids in grade 3 or grade 4 AKI is at an initial dose of 1 to 2 milligrams per kg per day of prednisone or its equivalent. If and when the AKI improves to grade 1, corticosteroids can be tapered over at least four weeks.

However, if elevation persists for more than three to five days for grade 3 or more than two to three days for grade 4 or worsens, we should consider additional immunosuppression, such as infliximab as a time frame, cyclophosphamide, cyclosporine, or mycophenolate. Usually, reflex renal biopsy is typically not necessary or recommended unless the AKI is refractory to steroids or other immunosuppressive agents.

BRITTANY HARVEY: I appreciate your reviewing those details for immune-related renal toxicity. So then, in your view, Dr. Swami, how will these recommendations for the management of renal toxicities impact both clinicians and patients?

UMANG SWAMI: This guideline presents a concise, up to date, and a stepwise approach to diagnose, grade, and treat this rare, but serious side effect of immunotherapy. In my view, this would be immensely helpful to clinicians in busy practices.

Prompt identification and treatment is also expected to help our patients experiencing immune related kidney injury. For patients, it will provide a readily available document to refer to for information regarding side effects of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. I applaud the efforts by the ASCO and the authorship team in developing the patient-focused version of this guideline. This may allow patients, especially when between clinic visits, to identify this unusual condition and seek medical help in a timely fashion.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Great. Thank you for highlighting the importance of this guideline, for all your work you did on this guideline, and for your time today, Dr. Swami.

UMANG SWAMI: Thanks so much, Brittany.

BRITTANY HARVEY: And thank you to all of our listeners for tuning in to the ASCO Guidelines podcast series. Stay tuned for additional episodes on the management of immune-related adverse events. To read the full guideline, go to www.asco.org/supportive-care-guidelines. You can find many of our guidelines and interactive resources in the free ASCO guidelines app, available on iTunes or the Google Play Store. If you have enjoyed what you've heard today, please rate and review the podcast, and be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

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Musculoskeletal Toxicities: Management of irAEs Guideline (Part 7) Nov 08, 2021

Show notes

An interview with Dr. Maria Suarez-Almazor from MD Anderson Cancer Center, author on "Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy: ASCO Guideline Update." She reviews identification, evaluation & management of musculoskeletal toxicities in patients receiving ICPis, including inflammatory arthritis, myositis & polymyalgia-like syndrome in Part 7 of this 13-part series. For more information visit www.asco.org/supportive-care-guidelines

TRANSCRIPT

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BRITTANY HARVEY: Hello and welcome to the ASCO Guidelines podcast series brought to you by the ASCO Podcast Network, a collection of nine programs covering a range of educational and scientific content and offering enriching insight into the world of cancer care. You can find all the shows, including this one, at ASCO.org/podcasts.

My name is Brittany Harvey, and today, we're continuing our series on the management of immune-related adverse events. I am joined by Dr. Maria Suarez-Almazor from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, author on Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy: ASCO Guideline Update and Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated with Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy: ASCO Guideline. And today, we're focusing on musculoskeletal toxicities in patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. Thank you for being here, Dr. Suarez-Almazor.

MARIA SUAREZ-ALMAZOR: Thank you.

BRITTANY HARVEY: First I'd like to note that ASCO takes great care in the development of its guidelines and ensuring that the ASCO conflict of interest policy is followed for each guideline. The full conflict of interest information for the guideline panel is available online with the publication of the guidelines in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Dr. Suarez-Almazor, do you have any relevant disclosures that are directly related to these guidelines?

MARIA SUAREZ-ALMAZOR: Thank you, Brittany. I don't have any disclosures directly related to the guidelines.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Thanks very much. Then getting into the content of this, what are the immune-related musculoskeletal toxicities addressed in this guideline?

MARIA SUAREZ-ALMAZOR: There are three major musculoskeletal syndromes covered in this guideline-- inflammatory arthritis, myositis, and polymyalgia rheumatica.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Great. Then let's start with that first one that you mentioned. So what are the key recommendations for identification, evaluation, and management of inflammatory arthritis?

MARIA SUAREZ-ALMAZOR: The diagnosis of inflammatory arthritis is primarily based on a thorough joint exam to detect the presence of synovitis and how many joints and what joints are actually involved. For this reason, we recommend early referral to a rheumatologist. From a diagnostic perspective, we recommend testing for antinuclear antibodies or ANA, rheumatoid factor, and cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies or anti-CCP. These are only positive in 10% to 20% of patients but may be indicative of a more persistent disease.

As inflammatory arthritis does not have any specific biochemical parameters for follow up, we use inflammatory markers such as sed rate and CRP in conjunction with the clinical exam as indicators of disease activity. For grades 1 and 2, we recommend treatment with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAIDs, or low-dose steroids up to 20 milligrams of oral prednisone or equivalent. If there is involvement of only one or two joints, local treatment with steroid injections can be indicated.

For grade 3 and higher, the dose of steroids can be increased up to 0.5 to 1 milligram per kilogram of body weight. And if there is no improvement within two weeks or if the steroids cannot be satisfactorily tapered, we recommend early initiation of a disease-modifying antirheumatic drug or a DMARD, such as methotrexate, hydroxychloroquine, or sulfasalazine. We need to understand though that these may take up to two or three months to be effective.

Alternatively, we can use biologic agents which have a faster onset of action. Recommended agents include tumor necrosis factor or interleukin 6 receptor inhibitors. In severe cases, immune checkpoint inhibitors may need to be permanently discontinued. But the overall goal is to try to continue therapy while we treat the adverse event.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Understood. Appreciate your reviewing that information for inflammatory arthritis. Following that, what are the key recommendations for identification, evaluation, and management of myositis?

MARIA SUAREZ-ALMAZOR: Well, myositis is really the most serious of the musculoskeletal toxicities. And it can be life threatening, especially when it's associated with myocarditis and with myasthenia gravis features. It usually presents with proximal weakness of the upper and lower extremities and sometimes with myalgia and even rhabdomyolysis.

It usually is very acute in its presentation. Specific testing includes muscle enzymes, creatine kinase and aldolase, and electromyography and muscle biopsy if the diagnosis is uncertain. MRI can be useful as it can show muscle inflammation. And it can also assist in identifying a location for a biopsy if needed.

Consultation with rheumatology and neurology should be requested early on. We also recommend that all patients undergo testing of cardiac enzymes such as troponin. And if elevated, a cardiology consultation should be placed right away and further testing performed. For grades 1 and 2, if patient has symptoms, treatment with corticosteroids are 0.5 to 1 milligram per kilogram should be initiated.

For patients with grade 3 or 4, checkpoint inhibitors should be discontinued and the patient should be hospitalized. Corticosteroids should be initiated at a dose of 1 milligram per kilogram of prednisone or equivalent. And patients with severe compromise may need intravenous corticosteroid doses at higher doses of 1 or 2 milligrams per kilogram or even higher. For severe disease or if there is myocarditis or concomitant myasthenia gravis, we can consider plasmapheresis.

IVIG can also be used, but it has a slower onset of action. And it is important to remember that plasmapheresis can remove immunoglobulins. So if it is to be used, the IVIG should be administered after the plasmapheresis is completed. There are other immunosuppressant therapies such as biologic agents that can also be considered. And sometimes for maintenance, oral immunosuppressants such as azathioprine, methotrexate, or mycophenolate mofetil can also be considered. Patients with severe disease may need to permanently discontinue the checkpoint therapy.

BRITTANY HARVEY: OK, those details are helpful for clinicians. So then, for the last category, addressed in this guideline that you mentioned, what are the key recommendations for identification, evaluation, and management of polymyalgia-like syndrome.

MARIA SUAREZ-ALMAZOR: Polymyalgia rheumatica syndromes present with marked pain and stiffness of the muscles in the shoulder and hip girdles. But some patients can also present with concomitant inflammatory arthritis. The workup is very similar to that of arthritis. In these patients, it is very important though to obtain a creatine kinase so that the muscle enzyme to be certain that the myalgia is not from myositis, as a treatment would be very different. Although very rare, polymyalgia, in some instances can be associated with giant cell arteritis which, if present, would require more aggressive treatment. For this reason, it is important to ask the patient about symptoms such as headache, visual disturbances, or jaw claudication.

The management of polymyalgia-like immune adverse events alone, without any associated vasculitis, is very similar to that of arthritis. So we would use NSAIDs and low-dose steroids for grade 1 and 2. Higher doses of steroids and disease modifying agents, including biologics, might be needed for grades 3 and 4. But overall, very similar management as that of inflammatory arthritis.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Great. Thanks for reviewing all of those recommendations for those three different categories. So then, in your view, Dr. Suarez-Almazor, how will these recommendations for the management of musculoskeletal toxicities impact both clinicians and patients?

MARIA SUAREZ-ALMAZOR: Thank you, Brittany. For the most common rheumatologic adverse events, such as arthralgia, inflammatory arthritis, or polymyalgia-like syndromes, because they are not life threatening, we may not be as worried. But we need to recognize that they can greatly impair quality of life. So we really hope that these recommendations can assist patients and clinicians in the early recognition of symptoms and also in initiating prompt treatment so our goal to be able to continue checkpoint inhibitor therapy can be achieved by controlling the symptoms that really impair quality of life.

Myositis is a much more serious adverse event that can lead to death. Patients may not be able to restart immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy again after they develop myositis. So we hope that these recommendations do highlight the need for very prompt diagnosis, consultation with specialists, and very aggressive treatment early on to control and manage these devastating, life-threatening adverse event.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Definitely. Early recognition, treatment, and improved quality of life are key. So I want to thank you for your work on these guidelines and for taking the time to speak with me today, Dr. Suarez-Almazor.

MARIA SUAREZ-ALMAZOR: Thank you, Brittany.

You can also find many of our guidelines and interactive resources in the free ASCO Guidelines app available in iTunes or the Google Play store. If you have enjoyed what you've heard today, please rate and review the podcast and be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

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Endocrine Toxicities: Management of irAEs Guideline (Part 6) Nov 05, 2021

Show notes

An interview with Dr. Jennifer Mammen from Johns Hopkins University, author on "Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy: ASCO Guideline Update." She discusses the identification, evaluation, and management of endocrine toxicities in patients receiving ICPis, including thyroid-related irAEs, primary AI, hypophysitis, and diabetes in Part 6 of this 13-part series. For more information visit www.asco.org/supportive-care-guidelines

TRANSCRIPT

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SPEAKER: The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform. This is not a substitute for professional medical care and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or treatment of individual conditions. Guests on this podcast express their own opinions, experience, and conclusions. The mention of any product, service, organization, activity, or therapy should not be construed as an ASCO endorsement.

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BRITTANY HARVEY: Hello and welcome to the ASCO Guidelines Podcast Series brought to you by the ASCO Podcast Network, a collection of nine programs covering a range of educational and scientific content and offering enriching insight into the world of cancer care. You can find all the shows, including this one, at asco.org/podcasts. My name is Brittany Harvey, and today, we're continuing our series on the management of immune-related adverse events.

I am joined by Dr. Jennifer Mammen from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, author on Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy: ASCO Guideline Update and Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated with Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy: ASCO Guideline. And today, we're focusing on endocrine toxicities in patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. Thank you for being here, Dr. Mammen.

JENNIFER MAMMEN: My pleasure, Brittany.

BRITTANY HARVEY: First, I'd like to note that ASCO takes great care in the development of its guidelines and ensuring that the ASCO conflict of interest policy is followed for each guideline. The full conflict of interest information for this guideline panel is available online with the publication of the guidelines in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Dr. Mammen, do you have any relevant disclosures that are related to these guidelines?

JENNIFER MAMMEN: I do not.

BRITTANY HARVEY: OK. Thank you. Then, to start us off, what are the immune-related endocrine toxicities addressed in this guideline?

JENNIFER MAMMEN: Yeah. So irAEs affect the thyroid and the pituitary most commonly. But we also addressed the possibility of primary adrenal toxicity and also the emerging toxicity of insulin-dependent type 1 diabetes, which, while rare, can present with grade 4 toxicity in the form of diabetic ketoacidosis.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Understood. Then, starting with adverse events affecting the thyroid, what are the key recommendations for identification, evaluation, and management of thyrotoxicosis?

JENNIFER MAMMEN: So thyrotoxicosis after ICI exposure is almost entirely due to subacute thyroiditis. That's a transient inflammation of the thyroid gland that causes a few weeks of high levels of thyroid hormone, followed by at least several weeks of hypothyroidism as the stores of thyroid hormone are replenished. In the irAE context, many patients do not ever actually recover adequate thyroid function and will remain hypothyroid, requiring thyroid hormone long term. Because the thyrotoxicosis is transient and results from the release of preformed thyroid hormone, anti-thyroid drugs do not help and actually can even make the hypothyroidism phase worse. Therefore, the treatment is really supportive care with beta blockers in particular to control symptoms of the hypothyroidism, such as tachycardia, tremor, or anxiety.

BRITTANY HARVEY: In addition to those points for thyrotoxicosis, what are the key recommendations for primary hypothyroidism?

JENNIFER MAMMEN: Yeah. So primary hypothyroidism is very common both in the general population and now in this population as a result of thyroiditis. Many patients might actually already be on thyroid hormone when starting immunotherapy. When the pituitary is working, the pituitary hormone thyrotropin or TSH is a reliable indicator of the adequacy of thyroid hormone replacement. And the goal is to use a dose of thyroid hormone that maintains the TSH in the mid reference range, generally between 1 and 3 million international units per liter.

When a patient is first presenting or diagnosed with hypothyroidism, for example, in that second phase of thyroiditis, a weight-based dose can be used to estimate the needed replacement dose. For those with higher BMI, generally, an ideal body weight rather than an actual body weight gives a better estimate. And those specific recommendations are in the guidelines.

Proton pump inhibitors, calcium/iron supplementation, or GI inflammation can all decrease the absorption of thyroid hormone. And so even the thyroid hormone is really common, and many oncologists are used to managing it, it can be tricky in these patients if there's issues with malabsorption. And so, therefore, an endocrinology consultation can be helpful to titrate and ensure that the dosing is adequate. Once that adequate dose, that stable dose is found, if other factors don't change, dose requirements are generally quite stable and can be monitored annually either by a primary care physician or an oncologist.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Great. Those are important points. Then, addressing the immune-related adverse event that impacts the pituitary, what are the key recommendations for identification, evaluation, and management of hypophysitis?

JENNIFER MAMMEN: So hypophysitis is inflammation of the pituitary, as you said. And although there are five hormone systems at risk, it's actually most common that the thyroid and the adrenal gland axes are what are affected. The diagnosis is made by a combination of assessing the pituitary hormone and the primary hormone, in this case, the thyroid hormone and cortisol along with the TSH and ACTH, which is the pituitary hormone that regulates the adrenal gland. With primary gland failure, as we said, the pituitary hormones will be elevated. But in hypophysitis, the problem actually comes from the pituitary. And so TSH and ACTH will be low or inappropriately normal for the low primary thyroid hormone level.

There are several key points for oncologists who might need to initiate therapy before the patient can see endocrinology. First, thyroid hormone increases the metabolism of cortisol. And so if you've diagnosed central hypothyroidism due to hypophysitis, it's really important to replace cortisol, if needed, before replacing thyroid hormone, because in someone with both deficits, thyroid hormone alone can precipitate an adrenal crisis. Thus, the ASCO Guidelines really emphasize the need to assess both before starting thyroid hormone and also give the option to use steroids empirically, if needed, since the diagnosis can be sorted out later by an endocrinologist.

A second important point is that headaches, visual changes, and diabetes insipidus, which is loss of fluid and generally marked by hypernatremia, those are much more common with metastatic disease in the pituitary rather than hypophysitis. And so such symptoms should really prompt a pituitary MRI when they're found in the setting of hormonal losses. The management of central hypothyroidism is similar to that of primary hypothyroidism. But as I said, the TSH is no longer a reliable marker for adequate replacement. So the goal, then, shifts from a TSH in the reference range to a free T4 at the upper half of the reference range.

Adrenal insufficiency, as with thyroid hormone insufficiency, is managed by physiologic hormone replacement, and that's best done using hydrocortisone. This is a short-acting steroid that can be given in a way to imitate the natural diurnal rhythm. We use 2/3 of the dose in the morning and 1/3 in the early afternoon, allowing levels to fall as they naturally would overnight. Dose-titration is based on symptoms. And usually, 15 to 25 milligrams of a total daily dose is adequate to control symptoms from adrenal insufficiency. I do think all patients should see endocrinology at some point if they have been diagnosed with hypophysitis because they do need education on sick day rules, otherwise known as stress dosing, and also to be instructed on wearing an emergency alert bracelet or necklace or something.

Long-acting steroids can be used for patients who have adherence problems. And of course, those long-acting steroids are more appropriate for the treatment of any other irAE that a patient may develop. While on higher doses of prednisone, patients can discontinue hydrocortisone and then restart it when the prednisone dose is weaned down below 5 milligrams daily. If there's a question about whether the central adrenal insufficiency is from hypophysitis or due to suppression after weaning off high-dose exposure, use of hydrocortisone because of the diurnal rhythm actually allows the adrenal axis to recover normally. And so after weeks, you can test for adrenal recovery using a morning endogenous level 24 hours after the last dose is given, which is another advantage to using the hydrocortisone mode of hormone replacement.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Understood. And I appreciate you highlighting those key points for oncologists. Then, following that, what are the key recommendations for primary adrenal insufficiency?

JENNIFER MAMMEN: Yeah. So primary adrenal insufficiency, you'll see the ACTH elevated just like in primary thyroid disease, and the cortisol will be low. Again, this situation is actually much more common with metastatic disease, and therefore, imaging is called for if you find that pattern of hormonal changes. It's been case-reported to happen with irAEs, but in general, this is incredibly rare. The management of hydrocortisone replacement for people with primary adrenal insufficiency is really the same as for hypophysitis. We're using hydrocortisone with that diurnal physiologic replacement pattern. Primary adrenal insufficiency, however, also generally results in the loss of mineralocorticoid function. And so most patients also need at least a low dose of fludrocortisone replacement.

BRITTANY HARVEY: OK. And then the last adverse event addressed in the endocrine toxicity section of this guideline, what are the key recommendations for identification, evaluation, and management of diabetes?

JENNIFER MAMMEN: Yeah. So diabetes in this patient population is very tricky because so many of these patients are getting high-dose steroids as part of their chemotherapy regimens, and this can cause a lot of hyperglycemia. And I think it's actually easy to become complacent about seeing blood glucoses in the 200s. And in fact, most of the hyperglycemia will be just that, secondary to steroid exposure and worsening type 2 diabetes. It can be managed with a titration of routine medications. But they are now increasingly less rare but still rare events of acute loss of pancreatic function, presumably autoimmune, that can be accompanied by life-threatening diabetic ketoacidosis.

And the challenge for oncologists, I think, is to have a low enough threshold to investigate a suspicious pattern of hyperglycemia, for example, hyperglycemia with complaints of polyurea or, on physical exam, a more rapid respiratory rate that could indicate compensation for metabolic acidosis. So it's really a question of being a good clinician and taking the diabetes in context and not just assuming that it's due to steroid exposure. This is, I think, important because, like I said, diabetic ketoacidosis can be a grade 4 emergency, and patients can end up in the intensive care unit, needing a lot of intervention, which if we have a higher suspicion in clinic, we might be able to avert by getting rapid communication with endocrinology, starting people on insulin and that kind of an approach.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Definitely. A common theme with these toxicities seems to be early identification is key. So thank you for reviewing the high-level recommendations for each of these toxicities. In your view, how will these recommendations for the management of endocrine toxicities impact both clinicians and patients?

JENNIFER MAMMEN: Yeah. So I think making diagnoses in the hormonal systems can be complex and does require attention to the interactions, like we were talking about, between the pituitary and the primary gland. It's not something that oncologists necessarily have front of mind. And yet hormone replacement is actually quite straightforward. Once the need for it is recognized, since there's no side effects from replacing a hormone at an appropriate dose, it's just a replacement. And so, therefore, rapid diagnosis and initiation of hormone replacement can really allow patients to continue immunotherapy with a very minimal disruption, even in the face of an endocrine irAE.

Although at our institution the close coordination between treating oncologists and endocrinologists is available, that's certainly not true everywhere. And I think that the ASCO Guidelines are designed to try and help oncologists make these diagnoses and initiate therapy to stabilize patients and even allow them to continue treatment while awaiting any necessary consultations, even in the case of thyroiditis, perhaps, managing what's a self-limited event and then moving on, which reduces the burden on patients with other priorities to focus on.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Great. Those are very important points. So I really want to thank you for all of your work on these guidelines. And I appreciate you taking the time to speak with me today, Dr. Mammen.

JENNIFER MAMMEN: It's my pleasure.

BRITTANY HARVEY: And thank you to all of our listeners for tuning in to the ASCO Guidelines Podcast Series. Stay tuned for additional episodes on the management of immune-related adverse events. To read the full guideline, go to www.asco.org/supportive-care-guidelines. You can also find many of our guidelines and interactive resources in the free ASCO Guidelines app available in iTunes or the Google Play store. If you have enjoyed what you've heard today, please rate and review the podcast and be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

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Lung Toxicities: Management of irAEs Guideline (Part 5) Nov 04, 2021

Show notes

An interview with Dr. Jarushka Naidoo from Johns Hopkins University, author on "Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy: ASCO Guideline Update." She discusses the identification, evaluation, and management of lung toxicities in patients receiving ICPis, focusing on pneumonitis in Part 5 of this 13-part series. For more information visit www.asco.org/supportive-care-guidelines

TRANSCRIPT

[MUSIC PLAYING]

BRITTANY HARVEY: Hello, and welcome to the ASCO Guidelines podcast series brought to you by the ASCO Podcast Network-- a collection of nine programs covering a range of educational and scientific content and offering enriching insight into the world of cancer care. You can find all the shows, including this one, at asco.org/podcasts.

My name is Brittany Harvey, and today we're continuing our series on the management of immune-related adverse events. I am joined by Dr. Jarushka Naidoo from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, author on Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy: ASCO Guideline Update and Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated with Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy: ASCO Guideline. And, today, we're focusing on lung toxicities in patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. Thank you for being here, Dr. Naidoo.

JARUSHKA NAIDOO: Thank you. It's my pleasure to share updates on this guideline.

BRITTANY HARVEY: First, I'd like to note that ASCO takes great care in the development of its guidelines and ensuring that the ASCO Conflict of Interest policy is followed for each guideline. The full conflict of interest information for this guideline panel is available online with a publication of the guidelines in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Dr. Naidoo, do you have any relevant disclosures that are directly related to these guidelines?

JARUSHKA NAIDOO: Yes. So I have research funding in the last two years from Merck, AstraZeneca, and Bristol Myers Squibb. And I also have served in a consulting role-- or an advisory board capacity-- for Merck, AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers. And not specifically related to this work, but also Pfizer, Takeda, Daiichi Sankyo, and Kaleido Biosciences.

BRITTANY HARVEY: OK. Thank you for those disclosures. Then-- getting into the content of this guideline-- what are the immune-related lung toxicities addressed in this guideline?

JARUSHKA NAIDOO: Thanks, Brittany. So the main lung toxicity that is addressed in this guideline is immune checkpoint inhibitor pneumonitis, which-- as this audience knows-- is an uncommon, but potentially fatal toxicity particularly associated with anti-PD-1 or PD-L1 monotherapy, but can also occur with combination immunotherapy approaches.

In the guideline, we go through what is known about the natural history, risk factors, and then, of course, our comprehensive approach to identifying, evaluating, and managing this toxicity, which is defined as a focal or diffuse inflammation of the lung parenchyma.

We also identify that, while pneumonitis is the quintessential lung toxicity that can occur with immune checkpoint inhibitors, we also note that there are some other lung toxicities that have been reported on, but for which known we relatively little.

And this includes sarcoid-like granulomatous reactions, including subpleural micronodular opacities and hilar lymphadenopathy, as well as pleural effusions. And these have been associated with both CTLA-4 and the PD-1, PD-L1 immune checkpoint inhibitor therapies.

BRITTANY HARVEY: I appreciate that overview. So then, you mentioned the main toxicity here is pneumonitis. What are the key recommendations for identification, evaluation, and management of pneumonitis?

JARUSHKA NAIDOO: Thanks, Brittany. So yeah, this is a key focus of the guideline. So, as we're aware, pneumonitis is defined as a focal or diffused inflammation of the lung parenchyma and is a toxicity that was identified as one of the early toxicities in the early clinical trials of the PD-1 inhibitors.

The incidence of this toxicity is estimated at anywhere between 0% and 10%, and in large meta analyses, looks to be around 2% to 3% in terms of incidence. In terms of how to evaluate patients with suspected immune-related pneumonitis, the common symptoms would be cough, shortness of breath, fever, and chest pain.

And in a patient who has suspected pneumonitis, some of the first tests to be done would be to take a pulse oximetry and to do some chest imaging. Chest imaging is preferable with a CT scan with contrast in order to rule out alternative etiology, such as pulmonary embolus

For patients who are symptomatic-- which means CTCAE grade 2 or greater-- we also recommend a standard infectious workup, which is guided by institutional guidelines. But based on our ASCO guideline, we outline that this should include, at a minimum, a nasal swab, sputum culture and sensitivity, blood culture and sensitivity, and urine culture and sensitivity, as well as a standard COVID-19 evaluation.

When we come to the diagnosis of pneumonitis, we then evaluate that in terms of CTCAE grade. Where the grade of pneumonitis refers, firstly, to whether a patient has symptoms, and the proportion of the lung parenchyma that may be involved with pneumonitis on chest imaging.

Broadly speaking, patients with grade 1 pneumonitis are asymptomatic and usually identified on radiographic imaging almost incidentally. For these patients, we would recommend either holding immunotherapy or proceeding with close monitoring.

And we recommend that patients should have weekly physical exams and pulse oximetry offered, and consideration of further chest imaging if the diagnosis is uncertain, or to follow progress-- usually around every three to four weeks-- or, if a patient becomes symptomatic, it may be more often than this.

We also recommend that we may consider doing spirometry or DLCO evaluation as a repeat in these patients. Broadly, again, in terms of the evaluation of patients-- if patients are symptomatic from pneumonitis, which means they have a symptom related to radiographic features, then this would be called grade 2.

And usually, radiographically, patients have more of the lung parenchyma involved-- greater than 25%-- and require a medical intervention. And the management would be prednisone, 1 to 2 milligrams per kilogram per day, that is then tapered over 4 to six weeks, and immunotherapy is held during that time.

Importantly, in order to knuckle down the diagnosis of pneumonitis, we recommend consideration of doing a bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage sampling in order to truly rule out alternative infectious diagnoses or lymphangitis carcinomatosis. And for this reason, a transbronchial biopsy can also be considered. In some cases, we also consider treating with empiric antibiotics to cover infection if we feel that this remains in the differential diagnosis.

If patients do not clinically improve after 48 to 72 hours on prednisone, then we recommend treating at a higher grade, meaning grade 3, where patients have severe symptoms, hospitalization is required, and a larger proportion of the lung parenchyma is involved.

For these patients who have grade 3 or greater pneumonitis, we recommend permanently discontinuing immunotherapy, administering a higher dose of steroids at methylprednisolone, 1 to 2 milligrams per kilogram per day. And, once again-- if there is no improvement after 48 hours, we recommend a range of potential additional immunosuppressive approaches, which include either infliximab, mycophenolate mofetil, intravenous immunoglobulin, or cyclophosphamide.

And there are currently no recommendations as to which may be the optimum immunosuppressive approach, but there are a number of clinical trials aiming to elucidate the answer to this. Importantly, overall in patients who are symptomatic, it may also be appropriate to consult pulmonary medicine and infectious diseases teams to weigh in on the diagnosis and management going forward.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Great. Thank you for that clear, step-wise approach to the evaluation and management of pneumonitis. So then, in your view, Dr. Naidoo-- how will these recommendations for the management of lung toxicities impact both clinicians and patients?

JARUSHKA NAIDOO: I think it's very important for both clinicians and patients to be aware of the potential side effects of the treatment that patients are receiving with immune checkpoint inhibitors. We know that some toxicities from immunotherapy tend to be mild and can be managed quite well with corticosteroids or other approaches.

What we understand about lung toxicities is that, thankfully-- in the majority of cases-- pneumonitis will be well-controlled with corticosteroids and holding of immunotherapy. However, in a proportion of patients, pneumonitis may become severe and may even lead to treatment-related deaths.

And for that reason, both patients and clinicians need to be aware of what to look out for in terms of the symptoms of pneumonitis, and how to diagnose and manage this toxicity quickly and efficiently in order to avoid poor outcomes.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Absolutely. Those are excellent points for both clinicians and patients to keep in mind. So I really want to thank you for all of your work on these guidelines and for taking the time to speak with me today, Dr. Naidoo.

JARUSHKA NAIDOO: You're very welcome, Brittany. And thank you to the ASCO oncology community for the opportunity to share this important work.

You can also find many of our guidelines and interactive resources in the free ASCO Guidelines app, available in iTunes or the Google Play store. If you have enjoyed what you've heard today, please rate and review the podcast, and be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

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Gastrointestinal Toxicities: Management of irAEs Guideline (Part 4) Nov 03, 2021

Show notes

An interview with Dr. Yinghong Wang from MD Anderson Cancer Center, author on "Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy: ASCO Guideline Update." She discusses the identification, evaluation, and management of gastrointestinal toxicities in patients receiving ICPis, including colitis and hepatitis in Part 4 of this 13-part series. For more information visit www.asco.org/supportive-care-guidelines

TRANSCRIPT

[MUSIC PLAYING]

BRITTANY HARVEY: Hello and welcome to the ASCO Guidelines Podcast Series brought to you by the ASCO Podcast Network, a collection of nine programs covering a range of educational and scientific content and offering enriching insight into the world of cancer care. You can find all the shows, including this one, at asco.org/podcasts. My name is Brittany Harvey. And today, we're continuing our series on the management of immune-related adverse events.

I am joined by Dr. Yinghong Wang from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, author on Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy: ASCO Guideline Update and Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated with Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy: ASCO Guideline. And today, we're focusing on gastrointestinal toxicities in patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. Thank you for being here, Dr. Wang.

YINGHONG WANG: Thank you, Brittany. It's my great pleasure to be invited to participate in this education event. I'm happy to share my experience and the knowledge that I learned over all the research studies in this field and share with the readers or the community providers on this specific topic.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Great. Thank you. Then, first, before we get into the content, I'd like to note that ASCO takes great care in the development of its guidelines and ensuring that the ASCO conflict of interest policy is followed for each guideline. The full conflict of interest information for this guideline panel is available online with the publication of the guidelines in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Dr. Wang, do you have any relevant disclosures that are directly related to these guidelines?

YINGHONG WANG: I do have consulting services to two pharmaceuticals, but they're not related to the current guidelines that are published from the ASCO. They're Tillotts Pharma and Athenex Pharma.

BRITTANY HARVEY: OK. Thank you. Then, let's talk about these gastrointestinal toxicities. So first, what are the immune-related gastrointestinal toxicities addressed in this guideline?

YINGHONG WANG: So these particular guidelines have provided very detailed description on the incidence and clinical presentations and also recommendations on the evaluation and treatment for the upper and the lower gastrointestinal adverse events and the liver and even other organ toxicity, including the exocrine pancreas toxicities that are being categorized as GI field related to checkpoint inhibitor treatments.

BRITTANY HARVEY: OK. And then what are the key recommendations for the identification, evaluation, and management of colitis?

YINGHONG WANG: So colitis is definitely one of the most common organ to be involved in this category of toxicity-related checkpoint inhibitors. And that's why a lot more studies have been studied because the patient volume can allow enough power to run a lot of analysis. I think the summary that I would say-- the recommendations from the current ASCO Guidelines include the early recognition and evaluation with close monitoring for people who had suspicious symptoms for gastrointestinal adverse events and early stool inflammatory marker evaluation even in patients who had grade 1 symptoms. And very important to rule out alternative causes of the symptom presented, like infections or cancer metastases or some other medication-related side effects other than checkpoint inhibitors.

And the other important component of evaluation is endoscopy and the pathological evaluation for patients who had a positive stool inflammatory markers or if the patient has a presentation of colitis symptoms like bleeding. And also, the presence of ulcers on the endoscopy usually has been found to predict a steroid refractory disease course. Therefore, the early initiation of more potent treatment like biologic agents, such as infliximab or vedolizumab, is very critical. The other alternative medical treatment, like ustekinumab or tofacitinib or even fecal transplantation for refractory cases, should also be considered in the small portion of patients.

The disease monitoring while on the medical treatment is critical via the repeat endoscopy or following the fecal calprotectin level to guide the duration of treatment and the time to resume immune checkpoint inhibitor treatments if indicated. The rechallenge of these checkpoint inhibitors is possible among patients with GI toxicities, and the risk of GI toxicities is completely manageable. That's the brief summary of the GI recommendations.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Yeah. Thank you for that summary. And then just in addition to those key recommendations, is there anything additional about the identification, evaluation, and management of hepatitis?

YINGHONG WANG: Yeah. The hepatitis-- the incidence is not as common as colitis but can be severe in extreme cases. So it requires the equal attention to recognize and evaluate for liver toxicity after checkpoint inhibitors with close monitoring. We also need to rule out other alternative causes of the symptoms, including the infections, alcohols, iron overload, thromboembolic events, cancer metastases, et cetera. The imaging, on the other hand, is more critical for liver toxicity evaluation. This is a little bit different from using the endoscopy and biopsy for luminal GI tract toxicities. And the liver biopsy should also be considered in certain select cases through all other differential diagnosis and also the other alternative treatment other than corticosteroid, including azathioprine and mycophenolate mofetil, that are mentioned in the small case series and also listed in the current ASCO Guidelines.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Great. Thank you for that overview for both colitis and hepatitis. So then, in your view, how will these recommendations for the management of gastrointestinal toxicities impact both clinicians and patients?

YINGHONG WANG: Yeah. Given the increasing volume of patients experiencing the GI adverse events related to the checkpoint inhibitor cancer therapies and their related morbidities, so both the clinicians and patients need to be familiar with the clinical presentations and the time frame of onset to ensure early recognition and early diagnosis, especially serious complication and even mortality can occur due to the significant delay in appropriate treatment in extreme cases. So the updated guideline provided by ASCO and also other professional societies in the US or internationally can provide a great resources to the academic and community clinicians when they encounter these cases in their practice.

So ultimately, the implementation of appropriate management and future prospective clinical trials in this field for these challenging conditions should improve the patient's outcome of toxicities and also cancer. And that's the goal of our clinicians and academia providers, to be able to serve the patient better in the future.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Definitely. Well, thank you for sharing this summary with us today, for all of your work on these guidelines, and for taking the time to speak with me today, Dr. Wang.

YINGHONG WANG: Thank you very much for this opportunity. Please let me know if you have any questions.

BRITTANY HARVEY: And thank you to all of our listeners for tuning in to the ASCO Guidelines Podcast Series. Stay tuned for additional episodes on the management of immune-related adverse events. To read the full guideline, go to www.asco.org/supportive care guidelines. You can also find many of our guidelines and interactive resources in the free ASCO Guidelines app available in iTunes or the Google Play store. If you have enjoyed what you've heard today, please rate and review the podcast and be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

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Cutaneous Toxicities: Management of irAEs Guideline (Part 3) Nov 02, 2021

Show notes

An interview with Dr. Milan Anadkat from Washington University & Dr. Aung Naing from MD Anderson Cancer Center, authors on "Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy: ASCO Guideline Update." They discuss recommendations for cutaneous toxicities in patients receiving ICPis, including rash, bullous dermatoses & SCAR in Part 3 of this 13-part series. For more information visit www.asco.org/supportive-care-guidelines

TRANSCRIPT

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BRITTANY HARVEY: Hello and welcome to the ASCO Guidelines podcast series, brought to you by the ASCO Podcast Network, a collection of nine programs covering a range of educational and scientific content, and offering enriching insight into the world of cancer care. You can find all the shows, including this one, at asco.org/podcasts. My name is Brittany Harvey. And today, we're continuing our series on the management of immune-related adverse events. I am joined by Dr. Milan Anadkat from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. And Dr. Aung Naing from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, authors on Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy: ASCO Guideline Update and Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated with Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy: ASCO Guideline.

And today, we're focusing on cutaneous toxicities in patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. Thank you for being here Dr. Anadkat and Dr. Naing.

AUNG NAING: Thank you for having us.

MILAN ANADKAT: Thank you.

BRITTANY HARVEY: I'd like to note that ASCO takes great care in the development of its guidelines and ensuring that the ASCO conflict of interest policy is followed for each guideline. The full conflict of interest information for this guideline panel is available online with the publication of the guidelines in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Dr. Anadkat, do you have any relevant disclosures that are directly related to these guidelines?

MILAN ANADKAT: As listed in the document, I don't have any direct disclosures. I do have a number of indirect disclosures, as I've consulted on similar topics in the past.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Thank you. Then Dr. Naing, do you have any relevant disclosures that are related to these guidelines?

AUNG NAING: I do not have.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Great, then let's get into the content of this guideline and the cutaneous toxicities that we're here today to talk about. So Dr. Naing, what are the immune-related cutaneous toxicities addressed in this guideline?

AUNG NAING: Well, with the advancement of immunotherapy, we've seen better response in our cancer patients. However, together with such positive outcomes, we are also seeing side effects caused by the immunotherapy. Disruption of the homeostatic mechanisms include a unique spectrum of side effects or immune related adverse events, commonly called IRAEs. The most common immune related adverse events in patients receiving checkpoint inhibitors are dermatitis, enterocolitis, transmitis, and endocrinopathies.

However, if you look at the most commonly reported IRAE of any grade, it is dermatologic toxicity. So here in this guideline, we addressed how to take care of the patients when they are having these side effects, particularly with the cutaneous toxicities. So when you look at that time to median onset of skin toxicities, it ranges from two to five weeks. And using CTCAE criteria for grading is a challenge for skin toxicity, as it may not reflect the true picture.

So, therefore, severity may be graded based on body surface area, tolerability, mobility, and durations. Those are the points also we discuss in this guideline. Broadly speaking, they are three groups of cutaneous IRAEs. They are rash inflammatory dermatitis, bullous dermatoses, and finally, Severe Cutaneous Adverse Reactions, SCAR. It is important to have thorough physical exam and rule out any other etiology of skin problems.

In general, it's also important to work closely with our colleagues from dermatology. While some of those low grade skin toxicities could be treated in outpatient setting, consulting the cases with dermatologists is important for higher grades of skin toxicities, such as bullous dermatoses and SCAR. My colleague, Dr. Milan Anadkat, will follow with a discussion on the role of dermatologists in taking care of patients with cutaneous toxicities caused by immunotherapy.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Thank you, Dr. Naing for reviewing those. So then you just mentioned three categories of toxicity. And I'd like to review the key recommendations for each. So Dr. Anadkat, starting with what is recommended for the identification, evaluation, and management of rash or inflammatory dermatitis?

MILAN ANADKAT: Thank you, Brittany. And thank you Dr. Naing for teeing up this discussion. I think, as was mentioned, there are three major categories of cutaneous toxicity that are seen from immunotherapy. By and large, the most common is rash or inflammatory dermatitis, from which there are multiple different phenotypes or looks by which physicians may be seeing.

The most common phenotypes within rash or inflammatory dermatitis, which account for over 90% of the cutaneous toxicity seen from immunotherapy, include lichenoid, which is a purple, flat topped bumpy rash that can involve the skin or the mucosal membranes. The psoriasiform, which resembles psoriasis, morbilliform, or oftentimes, maculopapular, which resembles a measles-like pink exanthem over the trunk, or generalized eczema and itching. So what's important is identifying the particular phenotype and categorizing it as an inflammatory dermatosis and excluding the other two phenotypes of cutaneous toxicity, such as bullous dermatoses or Severe Cutaneous Adverse Reactions.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Great, and then moving into that second category that you both mentioned, what are the key recommendations for bullous dermatoses?

MILAN ANADKAT: And so the key phenotypes for bullous dermatoses, by and large, is bullous pemphagoid, which is the most common phenotype seen in this category. Although other phenotypes resembling autoimmune bullous diseases, such as pemphigus or bullous drug reactions may also be seen. With bullous pemphigoid we see tense blisters, or tense bullae, frequently overlying a bed of erythema on the skin. Patients typically complain of considerable itching, far more than pain, with this category of eruption.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Got it. Thank you for reviewing that for bullous dermatoses. So then the third group is Severe Cutaneous Adverse Reactions. So what are the key recommendations there?

MILAN ANADKAT: And so the third group, being Severe Cutaneous Adverse Reactions, is a term used worldwide to encompass conditions such as Stevens-Johnson syndrome, toxic epidermal necrolysis, acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis, and DRESS or drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms. These are, fortunately, rare, but can be life threatening skin eruptions.

They account for less than 1% of all skin reactions seen from immunotherapy. When practitioners are approaching a patient who may potentially have one of these conditions, patients typically will exhibit symptoms of malaise, fatigue, fever, and a dramatic cutaneous eruption, which will either present with peeling or sloughing of the top layers of the skin, or a generalized erythema covered with multiple sterile pinpoint pustules. Oftentimes, there are associated symptoms of lymphadenopathy and organ toxicity that is noticed simultaneously, such as hepatotoxicity, or eosinophilia, or acute renal failure.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Great, I appreciate you reviewing the identification of all three of those groups. So then I'd like to hear from you both on this last question. But in your view, how will these recommendations for the management of cutaneous toxicities impact both clinicians and patients?

AUNG NAING: I would say that recognition of the toxicity is really important, particularly if you can actually catch the toxicity when it is in the mild grade. If you take care of them, then you can actually stop them from being mild to severe toxicity. That's number one. Number 2 is in that way, we may not have to halt or stop the immunotherapy treatment that could be beneficial to the patients.

And also, working together with the dermatologists is very important, because as I discussed earlier, some of them, we could take care of as an outpatient. But there will be certain dermatology toxicities, where we need to work closely with our dermatologists. And please also remember that these are the guidelines. You will be seeing the patient in the setting. So I think using that guideline and clinical judgment, that would actually help our patients at large.

MILAN ANADKAT: I think that's excellent. One, I think, important aspect of these guidelines is not only to correctly identify the phenotypes of cutaneous toxicity, but as Dr. Naing mentioned, it assists in management of these toxicities. The goal of these guidelines, especially as it pertains to the skin toxicity, is to accurately identify what toxicity is occurring for the patient, but then more importantly, to guide on appropriate management strategies to allow the patient to continue on immunotherapy and minimize or avoid unnecessary treatment interruption or treatment discontinuation.

The guidelines assist in management strategies according to the severity by which patients present. And as mentioned, I think ultimate priority will be given to the practitioner directly treating the patient. But consideration towards not only extent of body surface area involved, but severity of cutaneous eruption is thoroughly reviewed. And in addition to phenotype, including such patient reported outcomes, such as degree of pain, itch, or interruption on activities of daily living help guide the degree of management that can be provided.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Those are excellent points. I want to thank you so much for your work on these guidelines and for taking the time to speak with me today, Dr. Naing and Dr. Anadkat.

AUNG NAING: Thank you.

MILAN ANADKAT: Thank you.

BRITTANY HARVEY: And thank you to all of our listeners for tuning in to the ASCO Guidelines podcast series. Stay tuned for additional episodes on the management of immune-related adverse events. To read the full guideline, go to www.asco.org/supportive care guidelines. You can also find many of our guidelines and interactive resources in the free ASCO Guidelines app, available in iTunes or the Google Play store. If you have enjoyed what you've heard today, please rate and review the podcast. And be sure to subscribe, so you never miss an episode.

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ICPi Overview: Management of irAEs Guideline (Part 1) Nov 01, 2021

Show notes

An interview with Dr. Bryan Schneider from the University of Michigan Health System and Dr. Kathryn Bollin from Scripps MD Anderson Cancer Center, co-chairs of the Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events Guideline Expert Panel. They discuss an overview of the "Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy: ASCO Guideline Update" in Part 1 of this 13-part series. For more information visit www.asco.org/supportive-care-guidelines

TRANSCRIPT

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BRITTANY HARVEY: Hello and welcome to the ASCO Guidelines Podcast Series brought to you by the ASCO Podcast Network, a collection of nine programs covering a range of educational and scientific content and offering enriching insight into the world of cancer care. You can find all the shows, including this one, at asco.org/podcasts. My name is Brittany Harvey, and I want to introduce you to our series on the Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events. ASCO has developed two guidelines for the management of immune-related adverse events, one for patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy and a second for patients treated with CAR T-cell therapy.

Today, we'll be focusing on an overview of the Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated with Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy: ASCO Guideline Update. And we'll have authors join us for future episodes to discuss the key recommendations for organ-specific management for patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy and an episode to discuss the management of immune-related adverse effects in patients treated with CAR T-cell therapy.

Today, I am joined by Dr. Bryan Schneider from the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Dr. Kathryn Bollin from Scripps MD Anderson Cancer Center in San Diego, California, co-chairs on Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated with Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy, ASCO Guideline Update and authors of the Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated with Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy, ASCO Guideline. Thank you for being here, Dr. Schneider and Dr. Bollin.

BRYAN SCHNEIDER: Thank you, Brittany.

KATHRYN BOLLIN: Thank you for having us.

BRITTANY HARVEY: I'd like to note that ASCO takes great care in the development of its guidelines and ensuring that the ASCO conflict of interest policy is followed for each guideline. The full conflict of interest information for this guideline panel is available online with the publication of the guidelines in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Dr. Schneider, do you have any relevant disclosures that are related to this guideline?

BRYAN SCHNEIDER: I have research funding to my institution from Bristol Myers Squibb and Genentech Roche at the time of panel formation.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Thank you. And, Dr. Bollin, do you have any relevant disclosures that are directly related to this guideline?

KATHRYN BOLLIN: No disclosures.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Thank you. Then, let's talk about this guideline. So first, Dr. Schneider, what prompted this update to the Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated with Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy Guideline last published in 2018?

BRYAN SCHNEIDER: Yeah. The previous guideline was widely used and consistently one of the top read articles of the JCO over the last couple of years. And since the original guideline publication in 2018, new data have emerged on the management of immune checkpoint inhibitor toxicities. So our goal was to build on the original guideline with more treatment options, especially for patients who fail initial steroid treatment. New strategies have developed for the management of many toxicities, especially GI, cardiac, and heme toxicities. And ASCO and the panel felt it was important to present these new options to the providers in the community.

We also wanted to add sections that the providers would find valuable, including a table with many of the immunosuppressive agents used with typical dosages and schedules. We also added a table of commonly conducted testing while patients are on high-dose steroids as this is something many medical oncologists may not be used to handling as we typically do not have patients on steroids at high doses for several weeks or even months.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Understood. Then, in addition to those updates that Dr. Schneider just mentioned, Dr. Bollin, what is the general scope and purpose of this guideline?

KATHRYN BOLLIN: Yes. So the immune-related adverse event management guideline update and the CAR T-cell toxicity guideline serve to provide physicians that are prescribing these therapies with an understanding of the wide range of known potential toxicities of these agents and the best available evidence-based and expert opinion recommendations for their management. So up to 70% of patients treated with immune checkpoints will experience some form of immune-related adverse event, and nearly all patients getting CAR T-cell therapies experience toxicity. So recognition of the occurrence of these toxicities and appropriate management are essential for optimizing patient outcomes.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Definitely, those are key points. So then, Dr. Schneider, what are the overarching recommendations for the management of immune-related adverse events irrespective of the affected organ?

BRYAN SCHNEIDER: I think early recognition of the side effect is critical. So the guideline has typical signs and symptoms of each toxicity to help clinicians decide if this is occurring in their patients. Second, I think it's critical to grade the toxicity. We often don't do that with side effects related to traditional chemotherapy outside of clinical trials. So for example, if a patient has a platelet count of 75, I can't think off the top of my head what grade that is. I just know I'm going to hold chemotherapy for a week or two. But grading of the toxicity of these immune checkpoint therapies really is very important to decide whether patients can just be watched, whether they need to start steroids or whether they need to be admitted.

I think still corticosteroids and dose holds are the first steps that clinicians will do. The majority of these toxicities-- although it would be nice if we could personalize the treatment based on the particular side effect and what we see under the microscope if the particular affected organ is biopsied, I think, in broad strokes, corticosteroids can be implemented easily, and a lot of our oncologists can be comfortable doing this potentially without subspecialty help.

Having said that, I think multidisciplinary care is a must for the higher-grade side effects as, in oncology, we can't pretend to also be cardiologists, gastroenterologists, neurologists, dermatologist, and so on. And although there may be varying degrees of comfort from our subspecialists regarding the management of these toxicities, we do need their help for shared decision making, especially for the steroid refractory toxicities. We always want to emphasize a slow steroid taper oftentimes over at least four to six weeks. We get into trouble when we try to get them off the steroid quickly because they do have side effects that the patient may not enjoy. But oftentimes, we try to taper them quickly, and the side effect comes roaring back.

And then, finally, to escalate immunosuppression quickly if no improvement with high-dose steroids is observed, oftentimes, that's done even within just a few days. But commonly, in practice, there's still hope that the steroid will kick in two or three weeks down the road, and that's not a good strategy. If the patient's having significant symptoms and steroids aren't helping, they do need to go on to a more important immunosuppressant.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Those are important notes on the overarching management, particularly on how the adverse effects are different than those in patients treated with chemotherapy and the importance of multidisciplinary care. So then, Dr. Bollin, in your view, how will this guideline impact clinical practice?

KATHRYN BOLLIN: So the impact of this guideline update is actually very broad. As with the previous guideline, as Dr. Schneider alluded to earlier, it's been very frequently accessed by readers since it offers symptom outlines and algorithmic recommendations for early identification and the management of immune-related adverse events based on the severity and organ system involved. What's really important to understand is that while initially, as hematology-oncology physicians prescribing these agents, we're doing so in the setting of early phase clinical trials. We were learning about the toxicities, and those physicians were often managing the toxicities themselves. But now, with the exponential increase and the therapeutic indications for immune checkpoint therapies in cancer, the experience with the toxicities and their management and the questions have also followed suit with an exponential rise.

With this guideline update, we have experts among all of the internal medicine subspecialties that are now guiding the hematology-oncology physicians in immune-related adverse event management. We enlisted the experts in crafting this guideline update. So in summary, this serves not only as a tool for the prescribing hematology-oncology physicians but also for all of the subspecialists in the community and within academic centers for optimizing patient outcomes in the setting of immune-related adverse events.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Great. Yeah, it sounds like this update will be hugely important for practicing clinicians. So then, in addition to those points raised by Dr. Bollin, Dr. Schneider, what are the implications for patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy?

BRYAN SCHNEIDER: So we really hope this will be an essential tool to help providers quickly treat patients when these toxicities present. Often, this is unexpected, and busy clinicians may be blindsided by these issues. So these guidelines will provide a quick resource to guide the workup and formulate a treatment plan that will expedite patient recovery. And ultimately, this should help promote quality of life for patients on these therapies and may help reduce trips to the emergency department, hospitalizations, and potentially allow the safe rechallenge of immune checkpoint therapy after resolution of the side effect.

Many centers have the advantage of subspecialty support with experience in managing these toxicities. But for providers who may not have immediate access to, say, hepatology or endocrinology, we hope these guidelines will help the oncology providers provide the best treatment to facilitate the optimal clinical outcome.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Absolutely, those are key for optimal care. Then, finally, Dr. Bollin, looking toward the future, what are the important outstanding questions and developing areas of research for the management of immune-related adverse events?

KATHRYN BOLLIN: So while our recognition of immune-related adverse events, the testing for them, and management strategies have greatly improved with the expanded use of and experience with these therapies, large gaps in our knowledge remain. Translational and basic science research efforts are underway to understand these gaps, such as with the intrinsic and extrinsic drivers of autoimmunity, such as those with HLA allelic variations and the microbiomes interplay with our immune systems.

There are also research efforts underway to develop rapid diagnostic tests to deploy early in the onset of irAE signs and symptoms and for the development of biomarkers and modeling tools that will aid us in predicting which patients are likely to experience immune-related adverse events. There have also been some interventional protocols that have attempted to prevent these immune-related adverse events by incorporating immune suppressants along with therapeutic agents. But so far, promising results with this strategy remain elusive.

In regard to treatment for immune-related adverse events, investigators are working to learn the best strategies for selective immune suppression rather than just the use of glucocorticoids that will control immune-related adverse events while maintaining the clinical benefit of these incredible anticancer therapies.

BRITTANY HARVEY: Thank you for highlighting those research gaps and both of you for your efforts to lead this guideline update. We'll be joined by authors on the guideline over the next episodes to review the key recommendations for organ-specific management in patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors and to review the recommendations for patients receiving CAR T-cell therapy. Stay tuned for these episodes highlighting the sections of the guidelines. And thank you for your time today, Dr. Schneider and Dr. Bollin.

KATHRYN BOLLIN: Thank you so much.

BRYAN SCHNEIDER: Thank you.

BRITTANY HARVEY: And thank you to all of our listeners for tuning in to the ASCO Guidelines Podcast Series. To read the full guideline, go to www.asco.org/supportive-care-guidelines. You can also find many of our guidelines and interactive resources in the free ASCO Guidelines app available in iTunes or the Google Play store. If you have enjoyed what you've heard today, please rate and review the podcast and be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

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CAR-T Cell Therapy: Management of irAEs Guideline (Part 2) Nov 01, 2021

Show notes

An interview with Dr. Bianca Santomasso from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Dr. Monalisa Ghosh from the University of Michigan Health System, authors on "Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated With Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy: ASCO Guideline." They discuss recommendations for management of irAEs in patients treated with CAR T-Cell Therapy in Part 2 of this 13-part series. For more information visit www.asco.org/supportive-care-guidelines TRANSCRIPT [MUSIC PLAYING] SPEAKER: The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform. This is not a substitute for professional medical care and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or treatment of individual conditions. Guests on this podcast express their own opinions, experience, and conclusions. The mention of any product, service, organization, activity, or therapy should not be construed as an ASCO endorsement. [MUSIC PLAYING] BRITTANY HARVEY: Hello, and welcome to the ASCO Guidelines podcast series brought to you by the ASCO Podcast Network. A collection of nine programs covering a range of educational and scientific content, and offering enriching insight into the world of cancer care. You can find all the shows, including this one, at asco.org/podcasts. My name is Brittany Harvey, and today we're continuing our series on the management of immune-related adverse events. ASCO has developed two guidelines for the management of immune-related adverse events-- one for patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy and a second for patients treated with CAR T-cell therapy. In our last episode, you heard an overview of the Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy: ASCO Guideline Update. Today, we'll be focusing on the Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated with Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy: ASCO Guideline, and we'll have authors join us for future episodes to discuss the key recommendations for organ-specific management for patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. Today, I am joined by Dr. Monalisa Ghosh, from the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor, Michigan and Dr. Bianca Santomasso from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, New York, authors on both Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated with Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy: ASCO Guideline and Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy: ASCO Guideline Update. Thank you both for being here, Dr. Ghosh and Dr. Santomasso. In addition, I'd like to note that ASCO takes great care in the development of its guidelines and ensuring that the ASCO Conflict of Interest policy is followed for each guideline. The full Conflict of Interest information for this guideline panel is available online with the publication of the guidelines in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Dr. Ghosh, do you have any relevant disclosures that are directly related to this guideline? MONALISA GHOSH: No. I do not have any relevant disclosures. BRITTANY HARVEY: Thank you. And, Dr. Santomasso, do you have any relevant disclosures that are directly related to this guideline? BIANCA SANTOMASSO: Yes. I'd like to disclose that I've served as a paid consultant for Celgene, Janssen Pharmaceutical, and Legend Biotech for advising them on the topics of CAR T-cell therapy side effects. BRITTANY HARVEY: Thank you. Then, getting into these immune-related adverse events-- first, Dr. Ghosh, can you give us an overview of the scope and purpose of this guideline? MONALISA GHOSH: Sure. The purpose of this guideline is to offer expert guidance and recommendations on the management of immune-related adverse events in patients treated with chimeric antigen receptor or CAR T-cell therapy. This guideline offers guidance on the diagnosis, evaluation, and management of the most common toxicities of CAR T-cell therapy, which includes Cytokine Release Syndrome-- or CRS-- and immune effector associated neurologic syndrome-- or ICANS. As well as other potential, but less common toxicities, such as Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis-- or HLH-- B-cell aplasia, prolonged and recurrent cytopenias, Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation-- or DIC-- and infections. BRITTANY HARVEY: Great. Thank you. Then, Dr. Santomasso-- looking at this guideline, there's a few overarching recommendations. So, what are those general recommendations for the management of immune-related adverse events in patients receiving CAR T-cell therapy? BIANCA SANTOMASSO: Yes. The overarching recommendations are, really, first to recognize that these side effects exist. And that, as such, it's important to recognize that patients who develop these toxicities or side effects after CAR T-cell therapy need to be evaluated, or managed in, or transferred to a specialty center that has experience with the management of these toxicities. They're new toxicities. This is a new therapy. And patients are increasingly going to be managed in, or treated in, the outpatient setting, and, as such, they need to remain within a short distance of the treating center for about four to eight weeks post-therapy, and they should then return to their treating center upon experiencing any toxicities. Finally, as its flu season and infection season, it is recommended that inactivated influenza and COVID-19 vaccination be performed on patients and also family members as well. And any patient who does have an active infection, the CAR T-cell infusion should be delayed until that infection has been successfully treated or controlled. I often make a final point, which is that the immunogenicity of and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines is uncertain in these patients with these agents, but the potential benefits outweigh the risks and uncertainties for most patients. BRITTANY HARVEY: Thank you. Those are important points for patients and treating clinicians. So then, Dr. Ghosh-- as you mentioned, this guideline addresses the seven most common CAR-T-related toxicities, and I'd like to review the key recommendations for each of those. So let's start with, what are the key recommendations for identification, evaluation, and management of cytokine-release syndrome? MONALISA GHOSH: Well, Cytokine Release Syndrome is one of the two major toxicities that occur immediately or within a short time period after infusion of CAR T-cells. We have defined Cytokine Release Syndrome, or CRS, as an immune-mediated phenomenon that's characterized by various symptoms that are indicative of immune activation and inflammation. And patients may experience signs and symptoms that could include fever, hypotension, hypoxia, tachycardia, shortness of breath, rash, nausea, headache, and various other symptoms that are a little less common. These symptoms are caused primarily by the release of cytokines. Cytokines are the messengers of the immune system, and most of them are released by bystander immune and non-immune cells. We know that the onset of Cytokine Release Syndrome is variable depending on the CAR T-cell product that's used, as well as the patient population that's treated. But it generally occurs anywhere from two to seven days after infusion of CAR T-cells, and in some rare cases can occur even a little bit later. A standard grading system has been developed and grade CRS, or Cytokine Release Syndrome, based on three parameters-- fever, hypotension, or low blood pressure; and hypoxia or low oxygen levels. CRS is primarily managed with IL-6 antagonists because IL-6 is an inflammatory cytokine that has been shown to mediate a lot of the systemic effects that we see from Cytokine Release Syndrome. And one of the treatments is the monoclonal antibody tocilizumab, which acts against-- or blocks-- the IL-6 receptor. CRS that is refractory to tocilizumab is generally treated with steroids. Then there's limited experience with additional therapies, especially in the setting of CRS, that does not respond to tocilizumab or steroids. There are other anti IL-6 therapies available. For example, siltuximab, which binds to IL-6 itself rather than the IL-6 receptor. However, there have been no direct comparative studies of these agents. Anakinra, which is also an IL-1 receptor antagonist has also been shown to mitigate CRS in some CAR T-cell recipients that have high grade CRS. BRITTANY HARVEY: OK. Thank you for reviewing those management strategies. So, following that-- Dr. Santomasso, what are key recommendations for identification, evaluation, and management of immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome? BIANCA SANTOMASSO: Sure. Immune Effector Cell-associated Neurotoxicity Syndrome-- also known as ICANS-- is the second most frequent severe toxicity that can be seen after CAR T-cell therapy. So, what is ICANS? These are transient neurological symptoms that occur in the days after infusion, most commonly with CD19 CAR T-cell therapy. And the clinical manifestations of ICANS include encephalopathy, which is confusion, behavioral changes, expressive aphasia, or other language disturbance, change in handwriting or other fine motor impairment or weakness, and tremor and headache can also be seen. In more severe cases, patients can become obtunded with a depressed level of consciousness or even develop seizures, and they may require a higher level of ICU care, such as intubation for airway protection. And in very rare cases, malignant cerebral edema may develop, which may be fatal. ICANS can occur at the same time as Cytokine Release Syndrome, or can also occur several days after or shortly after CRS resolves, so it's important to have a high index of suspicion even after Cytokine Release Syndrome has resolved, but typically the side effects are self-limited and occur within the one month after infusion. Most symptoms lasts between 5 and 17 days, and the time of onset duration and severity of ICANS may really vary depending on the CAR T-cell product used or the disease state of the patient. So, what do I mean by that? Patients with high disease burden seem to be at increased risk for severe ICANS, so kind of knowing the disease that the patient has and the burden of disease is important. And then also there may be product-specific differences as well, so reviewing the product label is important as well because each may have its own risk evaluation and mitigation strategies that inform both the duration and the frequency of monitoring for ICANS after infusion. For evaluation of ICANS, we recommend, again, the ASTCT ICANS grading system. These allow for monitoring of several different aspects of neurologic function in these patients. Mental status changes are really what define the onset of ICANS. So for CRS, it's fever; for ICANS, it's mental status changes. And the severity of the mental status change can be determined by a standardized score known as the ICE score, which stands for Immune Effector Cell-associated Encephalopathy score. This is a simple 10-point scoring metric where points are assigned for orientation to year, month, city, hospital, ability to name three objects, ability to follow simple commands, write a standard sentence, and count backwards from 100 by tens. And for children younger than age 12 or those with developmental delay, The Cornell Assessment of Pediatric Delirium, also known as the CAPD, can be used in placement of the ICE assessment. Prior to CAR infusion, patients should be evaluated, including with an ICE score, for their baseline neurologic status. And what's nice is that this ICE assessment can be used as a daily screen after CAR infusion for the onset of ICANS during at-risk period. Then, other than the ICE score, there are four other neurologic domains that contribute to ICANS grading, and that's level of consciousness, seizures, severe motor weakness, and signs and symptoms of elevated intracranial pressure or cerebral edema, and patients are graded according to the most severe symptom in any of the five domains. So for patients who develop ICANS, it's recommended that they have workup, including blood work, CRP, CBC, comprehensive metabolic panel, fibrinogen, and coagulation tests. Neuroimaging with a non-contrast CT of the brain should be done and considering MRI of the brain in patients who are stable enough. In addition, electroencephalogram and lumbar puncture should be considered. And the electroencephalogram is really to rule out subclinical seizures, and the lumbar puncture is to assess the opening pressure-- or the pressure within the central nervous system-- and also to send studies to rule out infection. And again, these all have to be considered on an individual case by case basis, but are things to keep in mind. So for treatment of ICANS, the mainstay of treatment is, really, supportive care and corticosteroids. Tocilizumab, while it seems to rapidly resolve Cytokine Release Syndrome and most symptoms, actually does not resolve ICANS and may worsen it, so steroids are really typically used. The typical steroid is dexamethasone at a dose of 10 milligrams, and the interval really depends on the grade of the ICANS. Because of the possibility that tocilizumab may worsen neurotoxicity, ICANS really takes precedence over low grade CRS when the two occur simultaneously. And patients who don't show improvement within 24 hours after starting steroids or other supportive measures should have CSF evaluation and neuroimaging. Often treatment of seizures-- many patients are put on Keppra and levetiracetam or other anti-seizure medicine if they develop ICANS, and patients with grade 3 or greater ICANS may need an ICU level of care and escalation of steroid doses. The steroids are continued until ICANS improves to grade 1 and then tapered as clinically appropriate. And the most important thing to remember is that ICANS just needs to be monitored very closely as patients may worsen as some steroids are tapered. They also may improve rapidly after steroids are started, so steroids should be tapered quickly as patients improve. And, again, as with CRS, there's limited experience with other agents, such as Anakinra and siltuximab, but those could be considered in severe or refractory cases. BRITTANY HARVEY: Understood. I appreciate you going through when and how clinicians should screen for ICANS and those key management points. So, in addition to that-- Dr. Ghosh, what are the key recommendations regarding cytopenias? MONALISA GHOSH: So cytopenias can occur post-CAR T-cell infusion, and they can occur either in the early phase or in the later phase after CAR T-cell infusion. Meaning that they can occur early within the first few days to weeks post-CAR T-cell therapy or could even occur months to years later. These cytopenias include anemia, thrombocytopenia, leukopenia, neutropenia. Many patients may present with fatigue, weakness, shortness of breath, lightheadedness, frequent infections, fevers, bruising, and bleeding, and the symptoms usually are consistent with how they would present otherwise with anemia, thrombocytopenia, or neutropenia. Acute cytopenias within three months of CAR T-cell therapy are more common. This is due to usually the lymphodepleting chemotherapy that is administered prior to CAR T-cell therapy. Most patients receive a combination of fludarabine and cyclophosphamide prior to CAR T-cell infusion, or they may receive another agent, such as bendamustine. Most patients also come into CAR T-cell therapy with low lymphocyte counts from previous therapies. Early cytopenias, as I mentioned, are generally due to lymphodepleting chemotherapy or other recent therapies. There also could be an immune-mediated process due to the CAR T-cells. Usually prolonged cytopenias which occur beyo…

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