Addition of thalidomide to melphalan and prednisone treatment prolongs survival in multiple myeloma - a retrospective population based study of 1162 patients.

• The combination of melphalan and prednisone (MP) has been the standard treatment of multiple myeloma (MM). Since the introduction of novel agents, the clinical outcome in MM has improved. Several prospective studies with thalidomide combined with MP (MPT) compared to MP have been performed, most of them showing that MPT gives a better response rate and median overall survival (OS). Among 1843 MM patients admitted to 15 Swedish centres, we selected all patients treated with MP and MPT in 1(st) , 2(nd) , 3(rd) or 4(th) line of therapy, in total 888 patients treated with MP and 274 with MPT. Patients were evaluated for response rate, OS and TTNT. Multivariate Cox model analysis was made to adjust for different criteria at time for MM-diagnosis. The median OS from beginning of 1(st) line of treatment was 2.2/4.2 years after MP/MPT respectively, and in 2(nd) , 3(rd) and 4(th) line of treatment 1.8/2.9, 1.4/1.6 and 1.1/1.9 years (P<0.0001, 0.003, 0.74 and 0.235). The relative risk for death in the MPT group vs. the MP group was 0.61 (95% CI: 0.45-0.84) in 1(st) and 0.55 (0.38-0.83), p<0.01) in 2(nd) line. Treatment with MPT gave a significantly better overall survival rate after both 1(st) and 2(nd) line of therapy compared to treatment with MP only. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Cancer och onkologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Cancer and Oncology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

myeloma;thalidomide;melphalan

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)