Concerns about how to use established minimal residual disease (MRD) monitoring in the treatment of NPM1‐mutant AML following reduced intensity chemotherapy protocols for AML given as a result of the COVID‐19 pandemic

Farah, Nadine; Burt, Richard; Ibrahim, Amr R; Baker, Robert; Kottaridis, Panagiotis D

In view of the COVID‐19 pandemic and the predicted risk of severe infection in immunocompromised patients, chemotherapy protocols for patients with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) have been modified in some patients to newer, less myelosuppressive regimens than standard induction chemotherapy. However, the modifications to treatment have occurred at such a considerable pace due to the urgency of the pandemic, that optimal time points for measuring minimal residual disease (MRD) to assess disease response and monitor for relapse have not yet been established for the new regimens. Thus, decisions about duration of therapy and appropriate timepoints to intensify therapy prove very challenging.