Dose-intensified bendamustine followed by autologous blood stem cell support (ASCS) is safe and feasible for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma who have very limited bone marrow reserve, a study published online early in the journal Hematological Oncology has shown.
Because therapeutic options are often very limited in heavily pretreated patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma due to impaired bone marrow function, researchers sought to evaluate the effect of dose-intensified bendamustine followed by ASCS in patients with severely impaired hematopoiesis.
For the study, researchers identified 28 patients with multiple myeloma with a median of three prior lines of therapy.
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All patients had relapsed from the last treatment with impaired bone marrow function were ineligible for conventional chemotherapy, novel agents, or trial enrollment.
Patients received bendamustine 180mg/m2 on days 1 and 2, followed by ASCS.
Results showed that a minimal response was achieved in 36% of patients and 50% had stable disease disease. Researchers found that the median progression-free survival was limited to 2.14 months.
The authors note that the most significant finding was that patients were once again eligible for alternative treatments due to improved hematopoiesis.
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