Today concludes this year’s American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting, which began on Friday in Chicago.  However, yesterday was the last day with any multiple myeloma-related sessions.

During yesterday’s poster session, important new research findings were summarized on posters throughout a large conference hall.

The studies were on a wide variety of myeloma-related topics ranging from new treatments being developed for myeloma, to currently used regimens, to secondary cancers, to precursor myeloma diseases, and much more.

This update covers some of the myeloma-related studies presented during the poster session, in …

Today was the second day of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting.  Although the day has not been as busy with myeloma-related presentations as tomorrow and Monday will be, there still were some interesting presentations and discussions.

The Beacon published an update earlier today with news from a morning poster session that featured several presentations related to multiple myeloma (see related Beacon news).

This article covers material from an early-afternoon education session that was titled: "Controversies in Myeloma: Induction, Transplant, and Maintenance."

The education session included three talks by …

Multiple myeloma patients receiving an infusion of their own stem cells either one day or two days after undergoing treatment with high-dose melphalan demonstrate similar clinical outcomes, according to a recent U.S. study.

The study investigators conclude that a day of rest between treatment with melphalan and stem cell infusion appears not to be necessary.  Based on their findings, they recommend that melphalan administration the day before stem cell infusion should be considered as standard of care.

According to Dr. Giampaolo Talamo of the Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute in Hershey, Pennsylvania, …

As you may remember from my previous column, I was admitted to the hospital for my stem cell transplant at the beginning of March (on March 5 to be exact).

I had no initial devastating reaction to the melphalan (Alkeran) that I received on the day of admission or the infusion of my stem cells over the following two days.

While my first 10 to 11 days were certainly not pleasant, they weren’t “off the charts” bad either. For the first week, I was allowed to walk in the corridors …

The results of a recent analysis suggest that the dosage of re-infused lymphocytes during an autologous stem cell transplant does not affect relapse or survival rates in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients.

“These findings would seem to indicate that, in the context of upfront autologous stem cell transplantation, the proportion of the lymphocytes re-infused is not associated with outcome. In the salvage setting, further analysis needs to be done,” said Dr. Laura Percy of University College London and lead investigator of the study.

High-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell transplantation is …

The 48th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) will take place Friday, June 1, through Tuesday, June 5, in Chicago.

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 “Collaborating to Conquer Cancer.”

The meeting will in­clude many pre­sen­ta­tions and seminars focused spe­cif­i­cally on mul­ti­ple myeloma. The ASCO website cur­rently lists nearly 50 myeloma-based pre­sen­ta­tions (included under “lymphoma and plasma cell disorders”).

The …

When my stem cells were harvested and put in the deep freeze in June 2010, my hematologist said the timing for the transplant was not yet critical.  As long as my blood counts remained reasonably level, and as long I could tolerate the side effects of Revlimid (lenalidomide) and dexamethasone (Decadron), he felt I could postpone the procedure.

A few weeks after the stem cell harvest, I retired from my job because of dexamethasone-related side effects (see my related Beacon column).  I also believed the stem cell procedure would …