[Spirit]

Plasmacytomas occurring after RVD induction

by Spirit on Sun Jun 21, 2015 5:39 pm

I was diagnosed with Stage III multiple myeloma in January 2015. After 4 cycles of Revlimid, Velcade, and dexamethasone (RVD), my numbers were good enough to stop the therapies and harvest my stem cells. My myeloma is oligosecretory, I have no M spike, and my light chains and ratio are within normal limits.

A pre-auto transplant PET scan revealed a soft tissue focus on my back. This was biopsied and is a plasmacytoma. The stem cell transplant was postponed and radiation was begun on this lump after a CT scan showed it was the only one.

In the last couple of weeks, more of these lumps have been coming up. I had two biopsied on my breasts last week and will probably receive the results from that biopsy this week. I am being treated at a cancer center. This is very disturbing. I did successfully collect my stem cells and I started back on RVD last week, but the lumps still are appearing.

Any suggestions? Thanks,

Spirit

[PattyB]

Re: Plasmacytomas occurring after RVD induction

by PattyB on Thu Jun 25, 2015 6:38 pm

Hi Spirit

My husband was diagnosed in July 2014 and went through 8 cycles of RVD plus panobinostat (Farydak) (clinical trial). He received a PET/CT in July 2014 and then another in January 2015. While 95% of the myeloma activity in the bones appeared to be gone, there were two plasma­cytomas on his spine that grew during induction chemotherapy.

He recently went through 10 days of IMRT (intensity-modulated radiation therapy) at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. The followup PET/CT indicated that the plasmacytomas were "gone." The accompanying bloodwork also appeared to indicate that there was no new activity from those plasmacytomas.

We return to Houston on July 15 for another followup and hope his condition is stable. He is currently on maintenance chemotherapy of Revlimid, Krypolis, and dex.