The results of a small Spanish study indicate that heavy/light chain ratios may be a prognostic marker for myeloma patients.

Specifically, the Spanish researchers found that multiple myeloma patients who experienced elevated heavy/light chain ratios after achieving complete remission following a stem cell transplant had longer progression-free and overall survival rates than patients who did not experience elevated heavy/light chain ratios.

According to the study investigators, these results show for the first time the association between a heavy/light chain ratio and sustained remission in myeloma patients.

However, larger follow-up studies may be …

After three months of induction chemotherapy with vincristine, doxorubicin (Adriamycin), and dexamethasone (Decadron), I was ready for my stem cell transplant.

From the time I was diagnosed, all I kept hearing about was the stem cell transplant.  It seemed like the holy grail of treatment, and even as a physician I was somewhat mystified by the process.

Since I was fairly young (47) and otherwise in good health, there was no question that I was going to get a stem cell transplant.

The stem cell transplant used in the …

Interim results of a Phase 3 trial show no statistically significant differ­ences in relapse and overall survival rates between multiple myeloma patients who received a donor stem cell transplant as their second transplant compared to patients receiving two sequential transplants with their own stem cells.

Patients who received a donor transplant had an increased risk of death and other serious side effects, which outweighed the therapeutic benefits of the procedure.

The results of the trial were presented yesterday by Dr. Amrita Krishnan from the City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, California, at the American Society of …

A recent article in the journal Blood reported on the long-term outcome of multiple myeloma patients each treated with two stem cell transplants.

In this study, 102 patients with multiple myeloma began treatment with high-dose melphalan (Alkeran) as a conditioning regimen. Patients then received an autologous stem cell transplant, using stem cells collected from the patient before chemotherapy. This was followed by radiation therapy.

Finally, patients received high-dose chemotherapy in combination with an allogeneic stem cell transplant, in which stem cells collected from another individual were placed into the patient’s body …

Long-term follow-up results of two stem cell transplantation trials were presented at the 2008 American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting. The trials were conducted from April 2000 to April 2004 in high risk de novo multiple myeloma patients. De novo multiple myeloma refers to the first occurrence of cancer in the body.

The two trials compared autologous transplantation followed by non-myeloablative allotransplantation (trial IFM99-03) with tandem (double) autologous transplantation (trial IFM99-04).  In the autologous transplantation procedure, a patient's stem cells are collected and stored prior to chemotherapy and later returned to the …