Health, medical professionals gather to discuss violence as public health crisis
Charlotte's city council will discuss the city's violence prevention programs at a meeting on Monday.
The Mecklenburg County Health Department and medical professionals from Atrium Health will be a part of the city council discussion about violence as a public health crisis.
READ | Atrium Health develops program to decrease hospital visits due to gun violence
The council will review the city's violence prevention program and the city's Alternatives to Violence program as well as Atrium Health's Hospital-Based Violence Intervention program.
The program allows Atrium to provide victims of violence with resources such as mental health support, housing or drug treatment.
WATCH: Atrium Health develops program to decrease hospital visits due to gun violence
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Medscape
9 hours ago
- Medscape
OS Data From CARTITUDE-1: A Cure for Myeloma?
CHICAGO — The anticipated release of 5-year overall survival (OS) data from the CARTITUDE-1 trial showed that the use of ciltacabtagene autoleucel (cilta-cel) in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM) met or exceeded expectations. 'We already knew from our initial publication that 98% of patients who got cilta-cel responded to therapy and that the majority of those responses were complete responses. We also knew that the median PFS [progression-free survival] was approximately 34 months, which is unheard of in this patient population,' said study author Peter Voorhees, MD, of Atrium Health/Levine Cancer Institute, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Charlotte, North Carolina, during an oral abstract session at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2025 annual meeting. 'Today we are sharing that the median OS is just over 5 years, and that one third of the study population has remained progression-free following a single cilta-cel infusion with no maintenance therapy.' These findings were simultaneously published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology . CARTITUDE-1 is a phase 1B/2 trial in which 97 patients with four or more prior lines of treatment for RRMM received cilta-cel. Of these patients, 45 are currently alive and in long-term follow-up in the CARTinue 15-year post-infusion study. This group is further broken down among 32 patients who have remained progression-free since their infusion and 13 patients who had progressive disease and are now in post-progressive disease follow-up. Of the progression-free patients, 12 from a single center with annual minimal residual disease (MRD) testing remain MRD-negative at year 5 or longer. Voorhees noted that long-term remissions were not limited to patients with standard-risk disease. 'Patients with high-risk cytogenetics like del17p, t(14;16) or t(4;14) and those with extramedullary plasmacytomas were equally likely to be progression-free,' he said. The study team also found that patients in long-term remission had more immune-fit drug products and higher effector to target ratios at peak expansion, Voorhees said. The discussant for this study, Krina K. Patel, MD, MSc, of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston told attendees that the CARTITUDE-1 OS data were 'phenomenal for these hard-to-treat patients' as she reshared Voorhees' PFS slide showing a plateau extending toward 78 months. 'I do hope this plateau continues forever for these 33% of patients, to the point where we can say it's a true cure,' Patel said. 'But I don't hold my breath because most of my patients do relapse at some point.' Patel also noted the limitation that CARTITUDE-1 is a single-arm study. 'We know there's CARTITUDE-4, so we have randomized data that shows better performance than at least a couple of our standard care options,' she said. 'But it is hard to compare historical controls.' Following this presentation, Voorhees sat down with Medscape Medical News . The following interview has been edited for clarity. Since FDA approval of cilta-cel was based on CARTITUDE-1, the expectation was that longer-term data would also be very good. Why are these long-term OS results from CARTITUDE-1 so important? The median overall survival wound up being just over 5 years, when we would have expected it to be 1 year in a similar population. One third of the patients are alive and in remission, and they've been off therapy for 5 years, which is something we've never seen before. Just as importantly, we're not seeing new safety signals, and the rates of high-grade infection seem to be declining further out from treatment, which is what we would expect with immune recovery. Is it time to start thinking of myeloma as a potentially curable disease? I'm always very cautious when I discuss that. Possibly there may be patients who never relapse, but I am curious to see how these next 5 years play out because if the majority of these patients remain in remission 10 years out from cilta-cel infusion, then I'll be using the word 'cure' less cautiously at that time. We do talk a lot about functional cures in multiple myeloma: For someone newly diagnosed with standard-risk disease, they will get a three or four drug induction therapy, then a transplant followed by maintenance therapy. A lot of these patients will stay in remission well beyond 10 years and they'll pass away at an older age of unrelated causes. What do the new CARTITUDE-1 data do to the paradigm of continuous therapy? The other thing that has made us hesitate about using the word 'cure' in myeloma is the traditional paradigm of continuous treatment. What happens to patients in remission when you stop therapy? Are they in a long-term remission because you're keeping the heat on the disease or are they cured and what you're applying to them continuously is unnecessary? What makes the cilta-cel 5-year data so compelling is that these patients got that single infusion and a third of them are still in remission 5 years later. Your ASCO presentation included a discussion of MRD level at 10−5 vs 10−6. Why is that important here? Currently the best that's available as far as regular clinical practice is concerned is a 10−6 but MRD negativity is often reported at 10−5. But as so many people going through CAR T-cell therapy achieve MRD negativity at 10−5, the 10−6 level of sensitivity seems to be a better way of distinguishing those patients that might be at higher risk for disease progression vs those that are not. You're going to see us transitioning more toward using MRD negativity at 10−6 for our clinical trials going forward. What's ahead for the CARTITUDE research program? The expectation is the earlier you use a highly effective therapy, the better it's going to perform. We have the CARTITUDE-4 study, which compares cilta-cel with standard of care in both standard-risk and high-risk disease. CARTITUDE-5 and CARTITUDE-6 are both phase 3 studies looking at the application of cilta-cel therapy for newly diagnosed myeloma patients. For CARTITUDE-5, we're looking to see if adding cilta-cel after lenalidomide, bortezomib and dexamethasone will improve outcomes for patients not eligible to receive an upfront transplant. And in CARTITUDE-6, we're looking to see if cilta-cel can be used instead of autologous stem cell transplantation as consolidation for younger, fitter patients with newly diagnosed myeloma. And if things go the way we expect them to, we may be starting to use that word cure more often. When did it really hit you that the cilta-cel data are better than anything else that has yet happened? We've got several patients from CARTITUDE-1 at our institution who are still in complete remission, and they've lived a normal life for years now. We have patients on the CARTITUDE-2 program who are also long-term responders, so we see this in our everyday practice more and more. If you had told me 10 years ago that this is what we would be doing, I would've thought there's no way. But here we are doing it. This study was funded by Johson & Johnson and Legend Biotech. Voorhees disclosed having relationships with Abbvie/Genentech, Ascentage Pharma, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Indapta Therapeutics, Janssen, Kite (a Gilead company), Nektar, Pfizer, Regeneron, Sanofi, and TeneoBio. Patel reported ties with Abbvie, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene, Janssen, Legend Biotech, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Regeneron, and Takeda.
Business Journals
03-06-2025
- Business Journals
A heart of gold: Atrium Health brings life-saving surgery to Barbados
For years, Karen Haynes, a 52-year-old guidance counselor from Barbados, struggled with the debilitating effects of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a genetic condition that affects the main pumping chamber of the heart. Once an active individual who enjoyed beach strolls and workplace fitness activities, Haynes found herself unable to perform even the simplest tasks, like climbing stairs or responding quickly to student emergencies. Haynes, a dedicated mother and wife to her husband of more than 20 years, soon found herself struggling to do the things she always loved. 'One of my favorite self-care activities is walking on the soft, white sandy shores of the beaches of my beautiful island paradise,' Haynes recalls. HCM affects the walls of the left ventricle, and they can become thick and stiff. Over time, the heart can't take in or pump out enough blood during each heartbeat to supply the body's needs. The shortness of breath and fatigue became unbearable, and after extensive research, Haynes knew she needed expert care. As her condition worsened, she researched about her condition, joined webinars and online meetings, learning more about the potentially life-saving surgical options that patients like her could benefit from. Her relatives, currently residing in the U.S., pointed her to the nearby facility at Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute. After a virtual consultation with Dr. Dermot Phelan, he confirmed the severity of her condition. In March 2023, Haynes traveled to Atrium Health in Charlotte, where advanced testing revealed her high risk of sudden cardiac death. Although she received a defibrillator upon her return to Barbados, Haynes' condition continued to decline, and it became evident that surgery was her only option. expand A unique solution: Bringing expertise to Barbados The thought of undergoing such a complex procedure was daunting, particularly since there were no surgeons in Barbados experienced in performing septal myectomies, a procedure that involves the surgical removal of a portion of the thickened heart muscle (septum) to improve blood flow and relieve obstruction in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Additionally, the financial burden of traveling back to the U.S. for surgery seemed insurmountable — Haynes' insurance had classified her condition as pre-existing, and the costs would not be covered. Then, what Haynes describes as a 'miracle' happened. In what felt like divine intervention to Haynes, Atrium Health, through its International Medical Outreach Program, made the extraordinary decision to bring the expertise to her. Dr. Larry Watts, a world-renowned cardiothoracic surgeon, led the effort, traveling with his surgical team — including perfusionist Mindy Couper and scrub technician Kayla Boutross — to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Barbados. The team collaborated with local cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Alan Smith, anesthesiologist Dr. Michael Fakoory and interventional cardiologist Dr. Dawn Scantlebury to successfully perform the surgery, a first for the country. 'It was like going into someone else's home, cooking in their kitchen and sleeping in their bed — you have to be respectful,' says Watts. 'But the team in Barbados was incredibly gracious and eager to learn.' 'This was a direct answer to prayer and the exhilarating reassurance that miracles happen still,' Haynes says. 'I knew this surgery would give me my life back, and I am forever grateful.' Using FaceTime, Phelan provided real-time assistance from Charlotte, guiding the team through crucial moments of the procedure and ensuring the best possible outcome. 'This wasn't just about saving one life — it was about proving what's possible,' says Watts. 'Now there's a pathway for more patients in Barbados to receive this kind of care.' A successful outcome The surgery was a success, and Haynes' life was transformed. Gone were the relentless struggles to breathe, the crippling fatigue and the fear that had forced her to give up cherished beach strolls with her husband after a frightening fall near the water's edge — an episode she later realized was caused by her condition. 'Regardless of a person's strength of character or pain tolerance, there are certain things that are utterly incapacitating — and the inability to breathe is one of them,' Haynes says. 'I now have the opportunity to live again, to enjoy the simple joys of life I had to give up.' Her recovery was met with joy and gratitude, not just from her family, but from an entire medical community that had come together to make history. Watts and his team's dedication had not only given Haynes a second chance, but also paved the way for improved cardiac care in Barbados. expand The Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Center of Excellence Haynes' story is a shining example of the expertise housed at Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute's Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Center of Excellence. Recognized as one of only 46 such centers in the United States and one of two in North Carolina, the center offers comprehensive diagnostics, advanced therapies and access to clinical trials for patients like Haynes. 'Over the past five years, we've expanded from one HCM clinic every two weeks to two clinics weekly, with a multidisciplinary team of four cardiologists and two advanced practice providers,' Phelan says. 'We've also participated in multiple landmark clinical trials and strive to bring new therapeutic options to our patients.' The center's dedication to innovation and excellence makes it a beacon for patients worldwide, particularly those in regions where specialized care is unavailable. "Our Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Center of Excellence in Charlotte offers comprehensive, state-of-the-art care, combining advanced imaging, cutting-edge treatments and access to groundbreaking clinical trials," says Phelan. "With a dedicated team of specialists, we provide individualized care plans, ensuring patients receive the most precise and effective therapies available for managing HCM." The broader impact Haynes' journey is not just about one patient's recovery —it's about what is possible when medical institutions prioritize global health and outreach. Her experience serves as a call to action for increased collaboration between institutions like Atrium Health and hospitals in underserved regions. She now dreams of a future where Barbados has its own Center of Excellence for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, allowing more patients in the Caribbean to receive lifesaving care. 'There are likely many more patients in Barbados and the wider Caribbean who need this surgery,' Haynes says. 'I hope my experience serves as a catalyst for building a sustainable program where they, too, can receive treatment without the same challenges I faced.' Her gratitude extends beyond the surgical team to her family, friends and local colleagues who supported her through the toughest times. She remains especially thankful for the unwavering dedication of the Atrium Health team, from Watts and Phelan to the compassionate staff who went beyond their call of duty to offer reassurance and support. Looking ahead For Atrium Health, Haynes' case is a stepping stone toward even greater international collaboration. The team hopes to build upon this success, refining their outreach efforts and exploring ways to enhance partnerships with hospitals worldwide. 'This case shows what's possible when we combine expertise, technology and compassion,' Watts says. 'It's about creating a legacy of care that extends beyond borders.' Haynes, now feeling healthier and stronger, looks forward to resuming the activities she once cherished — teaching her students without limitation, walking along the beach with her husband and simply enjoying the gift of breath. Atrium Health's work in Barbados serves as a powerful reminder that health care innovation knows no borders. Through dedication, expertise and collaboration, lives are being changed — one patient, one surgery, one miracle at a time. Atrium Health is a nationally recognized leader in shaping health outcomes through innovative research, education and compassionate patient care. Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Atrium Health is an integrated, nonprofit health system with more than 70,000 teammates serving patients at 40 hospitals and more than 1,400 care locations.
Yahoo
01-06-2025
- Yahoo
Atrium Health gives free health screenings to 2,000 student athletes
Atrium Health hosted its 17th annual 'Heart of a Champion' day on Saturday and provided free health screenings to thousands of student athletes. Organizers said the event provided free health screenings to more than 2,000 local student athletes. Advertisement The event included Atrium's orthopedic and heart teams working to identify orthopedic and cardiac conditions. The screenings included musculoskeletal exams, heart checks, vision screenings, and general medical evaluations. 'We focus on what basic sports physicals may miss,' said Dr. David Price, medical director for Atrium Health Sports Medicine and Special Events. 'A young athlete may feel perfectly fine, but we conduct heart ECG screenings that can detect conditions potentially putting their safety at risk during high-intensity activities. With ECGs interpreted by our specialists, we've identified athletes over the years with conditions that could have had significant consequences if left undiagnosed.' Since the first year of the event, organizers said the teams have evaluated 22,188 students. To learn more about the Heart of a Champion day, visit the Atrium Health website. WATCH: Carolina Strong: The group of students collecting school supplies for teachers in need
