Abstract
Background:Significant improvements have been made in the management of POEMS (polyneuropathy, organomegaly, endocrinopathy, monoclonal gammapathy and skin changes) syndrome, but patients (pts) still experience relapses or refractoriness. Immunomodulatory drugs are effective agents in the treatment of plasma cells dyscrasias. Lenalidomide has shown interesting activity in POEMS syndrome, but no data on pomalidomide have been published so far.Aims:We report the use of pomalidomide and dexamethasone in five patients with relapsing POEMS syndrome after lenalidomide regimen.MethodsDemographics: 5 patients (3 men), median age 74 years old (range, 67–77), median of 2,6 previous lines received (range, 2–4). All patients had received lenalidomide as previous therapy.Results:Hematological overall response rate (ORR) was 3/5 (60%): all 3‐responding patients experienced complete response (CR) according to local evaluation based on IMWG criteria, leading to clinical improvement of neuropathy in all of them, endocrinopathy and peripheral edema (2 of 2 pts). Other clinical responses concerned resolution of papilledema (2 of 2 pts) and improvement of pulmonary hypertension (1 of 1 pt). Noteworthy, serum Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (sVEGF) level normalized after only one cycle of treatment in those 3‐responding patients (figure 1). No emergent toxicity was observed. As expected, adverse events were mainly hematological but of mild intensity and easily manageable. At this time, the 3‐responding patients are alive, including 2 without relapse after 11 months of follow‐up for both of them. The 2 other patients died, one of them from rapidly progressing disease, the other from heart disease not related to POEMS.Summary/Conclusion:In conclusion, pomalidomide and dexamethasone appears to be a safe and effective option in relapsing POEMS syndrome after lenalidomide regimen, demonstrating rapid and durable responses.image
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