Article

Thalidomide maintenance following high-dose melphalan with autologous stem cell support in myeloma.

School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53792, USA.
Clinical Lymphoma & Myeloma (impact factor: 1.13). 06/2008; 8(3):153-8. DOI:10.3816/CLM.2008.n.018 pp.153-8
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT Recent experience with thalidomide maintenance after high-dose chemotherapy with autologous stem cell support has demonstrated improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). We further explored the tolerability and efficacy of lower doses of maintenance thalidomide in this single-institution study.
Thirty-eight patients with myeloma were enrolled and treated with melphalan 200 mg/m(2) followed by autologous stem cell transplantation. Thalidomide 50 mg per day was started on day > or = 60 after recovery of blood counts and was escalated to a maximum dose of 200 mg per day. Responses were assessed at 2 months, 1 year, and 2 years after transplantation.
Of the 38 enrolled patients, 7 patients never received thalidomide. Among 31 patients receiving thalidomide, complete or very good partial responses were observed in 65% and 42% of patients at 1 and 2 years, respectively. Tolerability was a major issue, with only 17 patients completing 1 year of thalidomide. The goal of dosing 200 mg per day was achieved in just 17 of 31 patients, and the median tolerated thalidomide dose was 100 mg per day. Sensory neuropathy was the primary reason for dose modification and discontinuation. No thromboembolic events were observed. The median PFS was 20.8 months, and the median OS was > 60 months.
Thalidomide maintenance at a goal dose of 200 mg per day was not feasible in this population, with our data suggesting that 100 mg per day is a more reasonable maintenance dose.

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  • Article: A prospective, randomized trial of autologous bone marrow transplantation and chemotherapy in multiple myeloma. Intergroupe Français du Myélome.
    M Attal, J L Harousseau, A M Stoppa, J J Sotto, J G Fuzibet, J F Rossi, P Casassus, H Maisonneuve, T Facon, N Ifrah, C Payen, R Bataille
    [show abstract] [hide abstract]
    ABSTRACT: The median survival of patients with myeloma after conventional chemotherapy is three years or less. Promising results have been reported with high-dose therapy supported by autologous bone marrow transplantation. We conducted a randomized study comparing conventional chemotherapy and high-dose therapy. Two hundred previously untreated patients under the age of 65 years who had myeloma were randomly assigned at the time of diagnosis to receive either conventional chemotherapy or high-dose therapy and autologous bone marrow transplantation. The response rate among the patients who received high-dose therapy was 81 percent (including complete responses in 22 percent and very good partial responses in 16 percent), whereas it was 57 percent (complete responses in 5 percent and very good partial responses in 9 percent) in the group treated with conventional chemotherapy (P < 0.001). The probability of event-free survival for five years was 28 percent in the high-dose group and 10 percent in the conventional-dose group (P = 0.01); the overall estimated rate of survival for five years was 52 percent in the high-dose group and 12 percent in the conventional-dose group (P = 0.03). Treatment-related mortality was similar in the two groups. High-dose therapy combined with transplantation improves the response rate, eventfree survival, and overall survival in patients with myeloma.
    New England Journal of Medicine 07/1996; 335(2):91-7. · 53.30 Impact Factor
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Keywords

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