One or two stem cell transplants for myeloma?

By Martin March, | Health | 0 Comments

Patients with multiple myeloma can benefit from double stem cell transplantation after high-dose chemotherapy.
Researchers in France have been looking into a combination of treatments for multiple myeloma, a blood cancer. They wanted to discover the impact of giving not one, but two, stem cell transplants using the patient’s own bone marrow, on survival after high dose chemotherapy.

There were nearly 400 patients in the study, all aged under 60 years. They were assigned to either single stem cell transplant or a double stem cell transplant. Forty two per cent of those in the single transplant group achieved a complete or very good partial response as did 50 per cent of those in the double transplant group. The estimated event-free seven year survival rate in the single transplant group was ten per cent, while in the double transplant group it was 20 per cent. And overall seven year survival was 21 per cent in the single transplant group, 42 per cent in the double transplant group.

Among patients who did not have a very good partial response within three months after one transplant, the probability of surviving seven years was 11 per cent in the single transplant group and 43 per cent in the double transplant group. It looks as if going for a double transplant improves survival in multiple myeloma, especially for those who did not respond very well to a single transplant.