[mary ann]

Revlimid maintenance - is 5 mg enough?

by mary ann on Wed Mar 19, 2014 8:58 pm

My husband achieved complete remission (CR) after SCT. He has started Revlimid 5mg maintenance. I was wondering if that will be enough to maintain him in CR.

[stann]

Re: Revlimid maintenance - is 5 mg enough?

by stann on Wed Mar 19, 2014 9:21 pm

I wanted to start at the highest level and see if I could tolerate it, so I went with 15 mg for 4-5 months, then started having issues with platelets. So went down to 10 for a few months then down to 5. Total of 2 1/2 years and happy I did it.

I wonder why they started your husband on 5?

Congratulations on the CR!

[mary ann]

Re: Revlimid maintenance - is 5 mg enough?

by mary ann on Thu Mar 20, 2014 8:44 am

Thank you Stann for your respond. It is very helpful.

I do not know why the doctor started him with 0.5, but she told me through her practice she did not see a patient with a secondary cancer due to the Revlimid.

My husband's life is in her hands. I trust her but I always like to be informed.

[Wayne K]

Re: Revlimid maintenance - is 5 mg enough?

by Wayne K on Thu Mar 20, 2014 10:55 am

I did fine with none for 3 1/2 years. I think there's some controversy about the value of maintenance, or so it seems. I'm just beginning to relapse and I'm scheduled to start 15mg and I wondered why so high?

It may be an individual assessment by the doctor based on a lot of factors and that would make it hard to second guess.

[Dr. Peter Voorhees]

Re: Revlimid maintenance - is 5 mg enough?

by Dr. Peter Voorhees on Sun Mar 23, 2014 2:34 pm

The typical starting dose is 10 mg and then adjust after three 4-week cycles to 15 mg if well tolerated or de-escalate to 5 mg if excessive side effects develop. 5 mg is a very reasonable starting dose. I would consider escalation to 10 mg if all goes smoothly.

Good luck!

Pete V.