About 30% of patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (NDMM) are older than 75 years. Immunomodulatory drugs (IMIDs) have improved response rates and outcomes of NDMM, except for patients older than 75 years more vulnerable to side effects of IMIDs because of their frailty and comorbidities. We evaluated efficacy, toxicity and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) associated with continuous alternate-day low dose lenalidomide (LD-R, 10 mg on alternate days) and low dose prednisone (15 mg/day) (LD-RP) in 7 octogenarian NDMM patients (5 males and 2 females) with a median age of 82 years (range 80-87). All octogenarian patients had IgG MM, except 1 oligosecretory lambda chain MM; all were in Durie-Salmon stage III, except 1 in stage II, and had poor WHO performance status (median: 2, range 1- 3). Patients were evaluated at baseline and every 6 months for HRQOL according to MM-specific questionnaire QLQ-MY20 of European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC). All patients received aspirin thromboprophylaxis, 57% of them requiring from diagnosis erythropoietin and zoledronic acid treatment. In these 7 octogenarian NDMM patients completing at least three months of therapy, the overall response rate (ORR) was 86%, including 1 complete remission (CR), 2 very good partial remission (VgPR) and 3 PR. After a median follow-up of 12 months (range 3-24), the quality of response improved with continuous LD-RP treatment with a cumulative median reduction in monoclonal protein levels of 85% (range 20-100%); none of the patients required discontinuation of treatment secondary to specific hematologic and/or extra-hematologic toxicity. In addition, QLQ MY-20 questionnaires revealed that 70% of patients treated with continuous LD-RP reported improvements of QOL scores. Two out of 7 octogenarian patients died (1 for progression after 12 months and 1 for sepsis no treatment-related), and 2-year overall survival and progression-free survival estimates were 41% and 75%, respectively. Noteworthy, all patients treated with continuous alternate-day LD-RP showed progressive increase of circulating CD56+, CD3- natural killer cells regardless of treatment response. Our data provide evidence that continuous alternate-day low dose lenalidomide is a manageable and effective frontline treatment for octogenarian NDMM patients. These preliminary results require further validation in prospective larger studies.

Continuous alternate-day low dose lenalidomide in combination with low dose prednisone as frontline treatment for octogenarian newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients

SELLERI, Carmine
2013-01-01

Abstract

About 30% of patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (NDMM) are older than 75 years. Immunomodulatory drugs (IMIDs) have improved response rates and outcomes of NDMM, except for patients older than 75 years more vulnerable to side effects of IMIDs because of their frailty and comorbidities. We evaluated efficacy, toxicity and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) associated with continuous alternate-day low dose lenalidomide (LD-R, 10 mg on alternate days) and low dose prednisone (15 mg/day) (LD-RP) in 7 octogenarian NDMM patients (5 males and 2 females) with a median age of 82 years (range 80-87). All octogenarian patients had IgG MM, except 1 oligosecretory lambda chain MM; all were in Durie-Salmon stage III, except 1 in stage II, and had poor WHO performance status (median: 2, range 1- 3). Patients were evaluated at baseline and every 6 months for HRQOL according to MM-specific questionnaire QLQ-MY20 of European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC). All patients received aspirin thromboprophylaxis, 57% of them requiring from diagnosis erythropoietin and zoledronic acid treatment. In these 7 octogenarian NDMM patients completing at least three months of therapy, the overall response rate (ORR) was 86%, including 1 complete remission (CR), 2 very good partial remission (VgPR) and 3 PR. After a median follow-up of 12 months (range 3-24), the quality of response improved with continuous LD-RP treatment with a cumulative median reduction in monoclonal protein levels of 85% (range 20-100%); none of the patients required discontinuation of treatment secondary to specific hematologic and/or extra-hematologic toxicity. In addition, QLQ MY-20 questionnaires revealed that 70% of patients treated with continuous LD-RP reported improvements of QOL scores. Two out of 7 octogenarian patients died (1 for progression after 12 months and 1 for sepsis no treatment-related), and 2-year overall survival and progression-free survival estimates were 41% and 75%, respectively. Noteworthy, all patients treated with continuous alternate-day LD-RP showed progressive increase of circulating CD56+, CD3- natural killer cells regardless of treatment response. Our data provide evidence that continuous alternate-day low dose lenalidomide is a manageable and effective frontline treatment for octogenarian NDMM patients. These preliminary results require further validation in prospective larger studies.
2013
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11386/4206653
 Attenzione

Attenzione! I dati visualizzati non sono stati sottoposti a validazione da parte dell'ateneo

Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
social impact