Statistics compiled by The Myeloma Beacon show there is sub­stan­tial variation across U.S. cancer centers in the num­ber of au­tol­o­gous (own) stem cell trans­plants the centers per­form each year for people with mul­ti­ple myeloma.

The five busiest U.S. centers in terms of au­tol­o­gous trans­plants for mul­ti­ple myeloma carried out an average of 236 such trans­plants per center in 2017, the latest year for which data are pub­licly avail­able. That is a pace equal to almost one trans­plant per weekday at each of the five centers.

In contrast, across the other 134 other …

Results of a recent retrospective analysis indicate that stem cell trans­plan­ta­tion may be underutilized in multiple myeloma patients 80 years of age or older.

Researchers from the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston found that only 0.5 per­cent (9 patients) of the 1,740 multiple myeloma patients who received an au­tol­o­gous (own) stem cell trans­plant between January 2007 and June 2018 at their institution were 80 years or older at the time of their first trans­plant.

Yet the trans­plant out­comes seen in this small sample of patients were favorable, and the toxicity …

Results of a study conducted in Switzerland indicate that selective digestive decontamination, a controversial strategy designed to reduce the risk of in­fec­tions, may be effective in myeloma patients undergoing au­tol­o­gous (own) stem cell trans­plan­ta­tion.

The authors of the new study retro­spec­tive­ly reviewed data for over 200 myeloma patients who underwent an inpatient stem cell trans­plant at two hos­pi­tals in Zurich, Switzerland, be­tween 2009 and 2015. About half the patients underwent selective digestive decontamination (SDD) during their trans­plants, while the other half did not.

The patients who underwent SDD were sig­nif­i­cantly less likely …

I received an autologous stem cell trans­plant in July 2016. I chronicled the day-to-day progress of my trans­plant in the Beacon’s forums, so I won’t repeat that account here. Instead, I’ll share some of my general thoughts and feel­ings about the process.

My stem cell transplant was performed outpatient, but because we live over an hour away from the clinic, we relocated to apartments reserved for transplant patients. While I didn’t like being away from home, this arrange­ment was a …

This year’s American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting began the morning of last Friday, and the meeting will run through Tues­day.

Multiple myeloma-related pre­sen­ta­tions are taking place every day of the meeting. Friday, how­ever, was the busiest day at the meeting in terms of oral pre­sen­ta­tions with new myeloma-related re­search. There were nine such pre­sen­ta­tions during a single afternoon session focused on multiple myeloma.

In addi­tion, there were myeloma-related education session pre­sen­ta­tions on Saturday, yesterday, and today. There also was a late-breaking ab­stract session yesterday (Sunday) with one pre­sen­ta­tion that …

Hello again, myeloma world.

Today's review of myeloma-related research and news covers a particu­larly wide range of topics.

We start our review with a quick look at a new study related to Pomalyst and its use in heavily pretreated multiple myeloma patients. (The Beacon published a separate article about this study earlier today.)

Next, we report on changes the U.S. Food and Drug Admin­istra­tion has made in the procedures for “com­passion­ate use” access to unapproved drug treat­ments, including potential new myeloma therapies.

We then turn to discussion of a European study …

Good morning, myeloma world.

We hope you had a pleasant weekend and that your new week is off to a good start.

The big news today is that Darzalex (daratumumab) has been approved in Europe as a new treatment for multiple myeloma. We will be pub­lish­ing a separate news article on the approval, which was announced a few hours ago. In the mean­time, you can find information about the approval in this press release from Genmab, the company that initially developed Darzalex.

The other news we have for you …