Thalidomide stops or slows the progression of multiple myeloma in patients newly diagnosed as having this bone marrow cancer, reported researchers at the Mayo Clinic in the July issue of Leukemia.
Previous studies have confirmed the usefulness of thalidomide for treating patients with advanced myeloma in whom standard treatments of chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation had failed. The latest study, begun in 1999, is the first to document the effectiveness of thalidomide as a first-line treatment for the disease.
The researchers found that 14 of 16 patients with previously untreated early-stage multiple myeloma had or continue to have a positive response to treatment with thalidomide. Of the 14 patients with improved results, 11 had a 25% or greater reduction in myeloma protein levels with thalidomide and six showed a reduction of 50% or more. Only two patients had progressive worsening of myeloma.
Vincent Rajkumar, MD, lead researcher . . . [Full Text of this Article]
