Patients with multiple myeloma referred for palliative care consultation: from retrospective analysis to future directions to improve clinical outcomes.

Introduction: New treatments have improved the overall survival of patients with multiple myeloma (MM). At diagnosis and during the course of the disease, patients often report pain and other symptoms. Given the long disease trajectory, psychological and social issues are also frequent.

CART-Cell Therapy: Recent Advances and New Evidence in Multiple Myeloma.

Despite the improvement in survival outcomes, multiple myeloma (MM) remains an incurable disease. Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy targeting B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) represents a new strategy for the treatment of relapsed/refractory MM (R/R). In this paper, we describe several recent advances in the field of anti-BCMA CAR T-cell therapy and MM.

IL-17/IL-10 double-producing T cells: new link between infections, immunosuppression and acute myeloid leukemia.

Background: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is an incurable disease with fatal infections or relapse being the main causes of death in most cases. In particular, the severe infections occurring in these patients before or during any treatment suggest an intrinsic alteration of the immune system. In this respect, IL-17-producing T helper (Th17) besides playing a key role in regulating inflammatory response, tumor growth and autoimmune diseases, have been shown to protect against bacterial and fungal pathogens.

Cost of illness in patients with multiple myeloma in Italy: the CoMiM study.

Aims And Background: Multiple myeloma is the second most common hematological cancer. Although it accounts for only a relatively small percentage of all cancer types, the costs associated with managing multiple myeloma are considerable. Available studies are mainly focused on health care costs.

Lenalidomide in combination with dexamethasone in elderly patients with advanced, relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma and renal failure.

Salvage therapy of elderly patients with advanced, relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma (MM) is often limited by poor marrow reserve and multi-organ impairment. In particular, renal failure occurs in up to 50% of such patients, and this can potentially limit the therapeutic options. Both thalidomide and bortezomib have proven effective in these patients, with an acceptable toxicity, while, in clinical practice, lenalidomide is generally not considered a first-choice drug for MM patients with renal failure as early reports showed an increased hematological toxicity unless appropriate dose reduction is applied.

Prolonged 18FDG-PET negative complete remission in a heavily pretreated, elderly patient with diffuse large B cell lymphoma treated with lenalidomide, low dose dexamethasone, and colony stimulating factor (Rd-G).

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a common lymphoid malignancy among adults in the developed world and accounts for about a third of all patients newly diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma each year. The prognosis of patients with DLBCL has improved over the past 10 years since the advent of chemoimmunotherapy regimens such as R-CHOP (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisolone). However, a significant number of patients still experience disease relapse or progression after first or second line therapy, and ~40% of patients will die within 5 years.

Thalidomide-dexamethasone as induction therapy before autologous stem cell transplantation in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma and renal insufficiency.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and the toxicity of thalidomide-dexamethasone (Thal-Dex) as induction therapy before autologous peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) transplantation in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM) with renal insufficiency. The study included 31 patients with a baseline creatinine clearance value View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Evaluation of bone disease in multiple myeloma patients carrying the t(4;14) chromosomal translocation.

T(4;14) chromosomal abnormality is one of the most adverse prognostic factors predicting for poor outcome in multiple myeloma (MM) patients. It has been recently suggested that bone disease, as evaluated by spinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), is relatively infrequent in these patients. In the present study, we aimed at further testing this hypothesis by analyzing the extent of whole bone involvement in patients showing t(4;14) chromosomal translocation as compared with negative patients.

A prospective comparison of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and whole-body planar radiographs in the assessment of bone disease in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma.

Background And Objectives: Bone lesions in multiple myeloma (MM) have been traditionally detected by whole body X-ray (WBXR) survey although magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become the gold standard for detecting MM involvement of the spine and pelvis. The aim of this study was to compare a new technique, positron emission tomography (PET) with 18F fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) integrated with computed tomography (18F-FDG PET-CT), with MRI and WBXR for baseline assessment of bone disease in MM.

Design And Methods: We prospectively compared 18F-FDG PET-CT, MRI of the spine-pelvis and WBXR in a series of 46 patients with newly diagnosed MM.

First-line therapy with thalidomide, dexamethasone and zoledronic acid decreases bone resorption markers in patients with multiple myeloma.

Background: Bone involvement is frequently observed in multiple myeloma (MM) patients both at diagnosis and during the course of the disease. The evaluation of biochemical markers of bone turnover could allow a dynamic evaluation of the effects of a given therapy on bone metabolism.

Methods: In the present study, markers of bone resorption [urinary free pyridinoline (PYD), deoxypyridinoline (DPYD), N-terminal telopeptide of collagen I (NTX) and C-terminal telopeptide (serum crosslaps)] and of bone formation [bone alkaline phosphatase (BAP) and osteocalcin] were evaluated at diagnosis and after induction therapy in 40 patients (23M, 17F, median age = 53.

Superiority of thalidomide and dexamethasone over vincristine-doxorubicindexamethasone (VAD) as primary therapy in preparation for autologous transplantation for multiple myeloma.

The aim of the present study was to compare thalidomide-dexamethasone (Thal-Dex) and vincristine-doxorubicin-dexamethasone (VAD) as primary therapy in preparation for autologous peripheral blood stem-cell (PBSC) transplantation for multiple myeloma (MM). For this purpose, we performed a retrospective matched case-control analysis of 200 patients who entered 2 consecutive studies from 1996 to 2004 and received Thal-Dex (n = 100) or VAD (n = 100) administered for 4 months before collection of PBSCs and autologous transplantation. Matching criteria included age, clinical stage, and serum beta2-microglobulin levels.