Blood Journal
“Conclusion, in MM achieving CR after autologous stem cell transplantation is a central prognostic factor.” – Article excerpt in Blood
I’m really loving the new Facebook Myeloma Support Group! Maureen mentioned this article and I looked it up (I’m getting good at that part these days). You can see the whole article by selecting the PDF on the right side bar. It will open in its own full window on your computer.
Anyway, it’s not written by Arkansas which is good, since many folks still have issues with the Director and the aggressive protocol there.
“Although the value of this parameter was cause of great debate for a long time, the prognostic significance of achieving CR in MM has finally been accepted. More than 25 studies have shown this, including several randomized trials and prospective trials…”
I was struck by the fact that I knew Dr. Barlogie, Director of the Myeloma Institute at UAMS had been beat up for years for so aggressively trying to get his patients into CR. Many had felt it was unnecessary and that he was too aggressively pursuing this status in his patients. He had finally conceded, a smidgen, on it when we had come onto the scene, so a bit of vindication for him in this article. Though I have observed there still seem to be a number of folks in nCR or VGPR who do manage for quite sometime. Damn… it’s never easy for the researchers or us is it?
Keep the faith!
On my right sidebar, under Author’s Picks, you will find a link to a pdf on the “Myeloma Briefing Fall 2009” from MIRT where they talk about 15 year life expectancy projections for those in the low risk MM group, of which 85% of newly diagnosed are. At the moment Arkansas is focused primarily on the high risk/ultra high risk group of MM patients. Presuming that if they can uncover a secret there to keeping them in CR longer they will uncover what is needed for the vast majority of patients in the low risk group. It is my theory that from there, being able to get the same results with less toxicity will become the focus.
