Short-course lenalidomide plus low-dose dexamethasone in the treatment of newly diagnosed multiple myeloma-a single-centre pragmatic study

Current Oncology
W M JoseT S Ganesan

Abstract

We assessed response to treatment, toxicity, time to progression, progression-free survival, and overall survival in patients newly diagnosed with multiple myeloma who were ineligible for or unwilling to undergo transplantation and who were treated with a combination of lenalidomide and low-dose dexamethasone for a fixed 6 cycles in a resource-constrained environment. This pragmatic study, conducted in a single tertiary cancer centre in South India, enrolled patients from May 2009 till April 2011. Treatment included lenalidomide 25 mg daily for 21 days, with dexamethasone 40 mg on days 1, 8, 15, and 22 of a 28-day cycle, for 6 cycles. Response was evaluated after the 3rd and 6th cycles of treatment. All patients were followed for 5 years. The study enrolled 51 patients. Median age in the group was 61 years (range: 38-76 years). Immunoglobulin G or A myeloma constituted 70.6% of the diagnoses, and light-chain myeloma constituted 29.4%. Stages i, ii, and iii (International Staging System) disease constituted 21.4%, 28.6%, and 50% of the diagnoses respectively. All patients were transplantation-eligible, but 34 (66.7%) refused for economic reasons. After treatment, 19.6% of the patients achieved a stringent complete response; 35.3...Continue Reading

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