A subanalysis of recent clinical trial results shows good response rates for single-agent Kyprolis in heavily pretreated multiple myeloma patients with high-risk chromosomal ab­nor­mal­i­ties.

Specifically, the investigators found that the response rates for patients with high-risk chromosomal ab­nor­mal­i­ties were similar to those for patients without high-risk chromosomal ab­nor­mal­i­ties.

However, the researchers also found that response duration and over­all survival remained significantly lower in patients with high-risk chromo­som­al ab­nor­mal­i­ties.

Nevertheless, the researchers describe the results as encouraging, and they suggest that …

I grew up in a blue-collar family where vacations were momentous events. They didn’t happen every year, but when they did, they tended to be memorable.

There was the Yellowstone Park vacation, the Expo ’67 vacation, the Lincoln Trail vaca­tion. Our family vacations required a lot of planning and saving. While we were away, my mother would always send heaps of postcards to family and friends showing our travels in vivid color.

As kids, my brothers and I would save …

The American Society of Clinical Oncology will hold its 49^th annual meeting May 31 through June 4 in Chicago.

Similar to pre­vi­ous years, more than 25,000 clin­i­cal spe­cialists from all over the world are ex­pec­ted to attend the five-day meeting to discuss the cur­rent re­search in cancer treat­ment and care. The theme for this year’s meeting is “Building Bridges to Conquer Cancer.”

During the meeting, there will be pre­sen­ta­tions and seminars about all areas of cancer, in­clud­ing many focused spe­cif­i­cally …

Results from a recent retrospective study conducted in Germany suggest that treatment with novel agents followed by an autologous stem cell transplant may be an effective and safe salvage therapy for relapsed mul­tiple myeloma patients who previously received a transplant.

The study investigators believe that this course of treatment could po­ten­tial­ly "serve as a bridge" to a late donor transplant in certain patients.

However, the researchers point out that many of the patients included in the analysis did not receive …

I recall first encountering the word 'potpourri' as a category on the game show Jeopardy when I was a kid.  I wasn't sure what the word meant because the an­swers that came up in that category never seemed to have anything in common.

Years later, I came across jars of foul-smelling bits of dried plants that were also called potpourri.  My curiosity was roused because I had no idea how this related to what I had seen on Jeopardy. So …

Results from a recent European Phase 3 clinical trial indicate that a few months of treatment with Velcade may improve the outcomes of multiple myeloma patients who recently underwent a stem cell transplant.

Specifically, patients who received Velcade (bortezomib) following transplantation, which is known as “consolidation therapy,” had a longer median progression-free survival than those who did not receive additional therapy after transplantation.  Their response to transplantation was also more likely to improve with Velcade consolidation therapy.

However, …

This month, my column is actually written by my daughter Dori, who expressed interest in writing an article from her perspective.  I am, of course, proud of her for doing this.

Dori was in fourth grade when I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma.  She is now 17 years old and a junior in high school.  She loves fashion, travel, and writing.  My number one priority is to make sure I am around for her graduation a year from now.

For …