Patients With Multiple Myeloma May Benefit From NCCN, NCI Center Access

Patients diagnosed with multiple myeloma after 1995 may have better overall survival with access to 1 National Comprehensive Cancer Center Network (NCCN) cancer center or 2 or more National Cancer Institute (NCI) cancer centers, according to a recent study published online ahead of print in Cancer.¹

Researchers led by Sikander Ailawadhi, MD, of the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL, looked at adult patients diagnosed with multiple myeloma between 1973 and 2011 through the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database while stratifying for year of cancer center designation.

Through Cox regression model, they wanted to determine the influence of NCI/NCCN cancer center access, race, and year of diagnosis on overall survival.

They found a statistically significant improvement in overall survival among patients diagnosed after 1995 with access to 2 or more NCI cancer centers overall, as well as those of white race.

Among patients with access to NCCN cancer centers, improvement in overall survival was seen from 1996 to 2002 and 2003 to 2011, as well as among patients of white and African-American race but not among Asians, Hispanics or Native Americans.

“NCI access benefited only whites, whereas NCCN access benefited only white and African-American patients,” the authors noted. “No overall survival benefit was seen for any subgroup with access to only 1 NCI center.”

Reference

1. Ailawadhi S, Advani P, Yang D, et al. Impact of access to NCI- and NCCN-designated cancer centers on outcomes for multiple myeloma patients: a SEER registry analysis [published online ahead of print November 13, 2015]. Cancer. doi: 10.1002/cncr.29771.