Bolus: education delivered stat

Gehan Soosaipillai and Lina Pereira are members of the Transforming End of Life Care team, and have been embedded within the Lymphoma team at UCLH for the last 12 months. Will Townsend is a Lymphoma consultant and joins us for his third Bolus episode today. We focus on the topic of 'how can End of Life care be improved'? We discuss Advanced and Parallel care planning, Coordinate my Care, when to initiate Do Not Attempt Resuscitation discussions, tips for effective communication and whether Haematology remains a speciality where the recognition and planning for appropriate end of life care still happens at too late a stage. This is the final episode in season 5, and with luck we'll be able to bring out season 6 relatively soon in the new year!

Following on from his episode on Acute Graft Versus Host Disease (GVHD), Ronjon Chakraverty returns to tackle Chronic GVHD.

We are again joined by UCLH Consultant Microbiologist Vanya Gant, for a sobering discussion on the increasing difficulty antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is causing in healthcare. As the era of effective antibiotics fades, we discuss the causes and potential ways forward. We look at how phages and plasmids can spread AMR traits across the bacterial ecology of a hospital. How rapidly dividing pathogens such as E. coli gain evolutionary advantages in developing AMR due to selection pressures. And ultimately the devastating impact that AMR can have when it becomes prevalent in a Bone Marrow Transplant unit. The weapons within our grasp are now antibiotic stewardship and effective prevention of cross infection, through control of the air, water, equipment and people that work with the healthcare setting.

Haemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis is being diagnosed ever more as it becomes more widely known and better understood. We ask UCLH Consultant Rheumatologist Jessica Manson to give us some insight into Primary and Secondary HLH, including the various diseases that can precipitate a Secondary case, such as rheumatology conditions, lymphoproliferative disorders and infections (including COVID-19). If you've ever found yourself confused by HLH, this is the episode for you.

Jeremy Brown is a Respiratory Consultant at UCLH, with an interest in the lung complications patients experience following chemotherapy and stem cell transplantation. We discuss the issues caused by Bacterial Pneumonia, PCP, Fungal infections like Aspergillosis, CMV, Lung GVHD, Organising Pneumonia and TB.

Jon Lambert is a Haematologist at UCLH, and specialises in the treatment of Lymphoma and Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (MPNs). We ask him to give us insight into the presentation, diagnosis, treatment and long term impact of two common MPNs, Essential Thrombocythaemia and Polycythaemia Vera.

Deepak Suri is a Hepatologist and Gastroenterologist at UCLH and the Whittington. He joins us to discuss all things liver, including Hepatitis, VOD, GVHD and Haemochromatosis.

In this episode we look at how T-cell based therapies are being developed for use in solid cancers. Claire Roddie is a UCLH consultant specialising in CAR T-cell treatment and discusses tumour infiltrating lymphocytes, neo-antigen receptors, checkpoint inhibitors and the barriers that need to be overcome to develop effective immunotherapy treatments for solid cancers.

We invited back consultant virologist Gee Yen Shin and pharmacist Marian Salek to discuss the preparations being made for this winter. The conversation revolves mainly around the value of widespread uptake of the flu vaccine amongst healthcare professionals.

Dr Ashu Wechalekar joins in our first of ten episodes that will make up Series 5 of Bolus. Ashu is a renowned expert in Amyloidosis, and carries out his clinical and research work at the National Amyloidosis Centre at the Royal Free Hospital. Don't miss this comprehensive run through of this fascinating disorder.