Long-Term Survival with Multiple Myeloma: An Italian Experience.

Background/objectives: Treatments for multiple myeloma (MM) have expanded in the last decade, and the overall survival (OS) of MM patients (pts) is in continuous improvement. With the availability of new treatments and the use of high-dose chemotherapy, followed by autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (ASCT), the median OS of newly diagnosed MM (NDMM) pts is 6-8 years. To date, approximately 50% and 28% of MM patients are still alive at 5 years and 10 years. Few data are reported concerning the characteristics of the long-term survival MM pts.

Methods: the aim of this observational multicenter study is to analyze the clinical profile of MM pts who have survived 10 years or longer, to identify possible predictors of long-term survival.

Conclusions: this is a real-life observation of a cohort of 344 long-term survivors with MM. The median age of the entire cohort was 59 years (range 27-83). The median years from diagnosis was 13.4 (range 11.3-16.3). Our analysis identified age more than 60 years, hypoalbuminemia at diagnosis, and a number of anti-myeloma therapies equal or more than 3 as significant independent prognostic factors for reduced OS. These finding underline the importance of designing prospective studies to identify clinical, biological, and molecular characteristics that could be used to better stratify newly diagnosed multiple myeloma pts in order to incorporate reproducible biomarkers and to identify tailored optimal target therapies.