FCR:  Every Thing You Have Ever Wanted to Know

For a majority of patients with CLL and needing therapy, FCR chemoimmunotherapy combination is very much an option.  A number of recent clinical trials have confirmed the value of this chemoimmunotherapy combination and many oncologists now consider this combination the “gold standard”.  But like all things having to do with CLL, there are a lot of details you should know before you make the decision to go for this acknowledged “big gun”.

For example, how many cycles of therapy should you have? Most protocols call for six (monthly) cycles, but is that a carved in stone number? Who is most likely to benefit? What are the adverse effects that you can expect? Should you be on any prophylactic medications before, during and after the FCR therapy? Are you better off with lower chemo dosage versions like FCR-Lite?  Is PCR indeed a kinder and gentler version of FCR?  Is FCO a better choice, where the new monoclonal antibody Ofatumumab (Humax-CD20, brand name “Arzerra”) replaces Rituxan? How about life after FCR, for those that have relapsed after their FCR remission? As you can see, many important questions; and we will attempt to cover as many of them as possible at our next CLL Workshop.

  • The workshop will be held on Saturday, August 14, 2024, 1:00pm - 5:00 pm in Columbia, Maryland.
  • Only patients and their care givers who are registered members of Updates may participate.  No drug or healthcare industry representatives, please!
  • Click on the “Register” button below if you wish to attend.
  • There is no charge for attending the workshop.  CLL Topics and Updates are run entirely on voluntary donations.  Everything we do depends on the generous support of our patient community.
  • As before, we will keep your registration information confidential; there will be no recording of any kind of the workshop, no name tags etc.  You can disclose as much (or as little) about yourself as you wish during the discussion session.  As I did after our first workshop, I will publish my slides and discussion notes on this website for the benefit of those that cannot attend our workshop.

If the last workshop we held was any indication, I expect this one will be a very interesting one as well. Last time we discussed general issues.  This time around, we get down to the nitty-gritty details of the single most important chemoimmunotherapy regimen  to have made its debut in the last decade. Seating is limited in our rented conference hall, so please register as soon as you can.  We will cut-off further registrations after we have reached our maximum capacity.

This is going to be the last Workshop for 2024 since I will be heading back to India in September for a six month visit to take care of my elderly mother.  Fortunately I have broadband internet access at my Mom’s house and  you won’t even know I am gone - except when it comes to face-to-face meetings like this.

I look forward to seeing some of you at the workshop.

Registration is complete at this time.

Photo by Shahab Maghami