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Optimal timing of treatment at relapse after autologous stem cell transplantation in patients with multiple myeloma: a study of the Korean Multiple Myeloma Working Party (KMM-1909)

Abstract

The effectiveness of early treatment for biochemical relapse of multiple myeloma (MM) is unclear. To clarify this issue, this retrospective study was performed to evaluate the survival outcomes of 315 patients with relapsed MM after upfront autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT). Over a median follow-up of 66.6 months (range, 15.1–195.5 months), 48.2% of patients showed biochemical relapse, 41.3% showed clinical relapse, and 10.5% showed significant biochemical relapse. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were inferior for patients with clinical relapse compared to the other patients. Multivariate analysis showed that clinical relapse was an independent prognostic factor for OS. In patients with biochemical relapse, there was no significant difference in survival between patients treated while asymptomatic and those treated once clinical symptoms had appeared. Relapse type after upfront ASCT was a significant prognostic factor in patients with MM. In addition, no survival benefit of early treatment at biochemical relapse was observed, but a triplet regimen may be beneficial for MM patients with biochemical relapse.

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Fig. 1: Survival outcomes by relapse type after autologous stem cell transplantation.
Fig. 2: Outcomes by treatment timing and salvage therapy in patients with biochemical relapse.

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Data availability

The dataset is available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request (the fighshare doi- https://figshare.com/s/cf4a0697a07156ffea9b).

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Contributions

KK and JJL designed the study; SHJ prepared the manuscript; CKM, JHL, YCM, SMB, DHY, and HSL critically reviewed the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Kihyun Kim or Je-Jung Lee.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethical approval and consent to participate

This study was approved by the institutional ethics committee of each participating institution and conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The committee waived the need for informed patient consent because of the retrospective nature of the study.

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Jung, SH., Min, CK., Lee, J.H. et al. Optimal timing of treatment at relapse after autologous stem cell transplantation in patients with multiple myeloma: a study of the Korean Multiple Myeloma Working Party (KMM-1909). Bone Marrow Transplant 57, 1797–1802 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-022-01818-z

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