Treatment with lenalidomide and dexamethasone for elderly multiple myeloma

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of lenalidomide plus low-dose dexamethasone in the treatment of elderly multiple myeloma (MM) patients. Methods The clinical records of 36 elderly MM patients were analyzed including 23 males (63.9%) and 13 females (36.1%). The average age was 72.0±2.4 years and all patients were treated with lenalidomide plus low-dose dexamethasone (lenalidomide 25 mg/qod or 10 mg/qd on day 1-21 of each 28-day cycle, dexamethasone 10-20 mg per week). Adverse reaction and therapeutic efficacy was determined by NCICTCAE (3rd edition) and IMWG. Results There were 36 patients well followed-up with an average of 20±3 months, range of 1-48 months, the complete ratio of follow-up was 100%, 1 patient (2.7%) achieved complete response (CR), 10 cases (27.8%) were very good partial response (VGPR), 13 cases (36.1%) were partial response (PR), 6 cases (16.7%) were stable disease (SD), 4 cases (11.1%) were progressive and 2 died (5.6%). The overall response rate (ORR=CR+VGPR+PR) was 24/36 (66.6%). The most common adverse was fatigue and dexamyelosuppression. Conclusion Lenalidomide plus low-dose dexamethasone is a safe and effective treatment for elderly MM patients. This combined treatment is recommended to elderly MM patients. Key words: Lenalidomide; Aged; Multiple myeloma