Treatment Of Newly Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma Based On Bortezomib Plus Dexamethasone

ObjectiveMultiple myeloma is a disease that is characterized by clonal proliferation of plasma cells. Up to now, it still equals to an uncurable disease. It was confirmed that Bortezomib, a new antineoplastic drug, is active in the treatment of multiple myeloma, and it has achieved encouraging response rate in relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. Therefore we evaluate the clinical efficacy of bortezomib plus dexamethasone for previously untreated patients with multiple myeloma.MethodsEight newly diagnosed patients with multiple myeloma (male 4, female 4 cases ) , whose median age was 61 years old (range 45-73 years old), were treated with bortezomib plus dexamethasone, in the First affiliated hospital of ZheJiang University during the year of 2006～2007. Other 48 cases (male 29, female 19 cases) treated with conventional chemotherapy regimen (MP, M2, VAD), median age 56 years old (range 44-81 years old), from January 2002 to December 2006.ResultsSix of the eight patients treated with bortezomib plus dexamethasone achieved partial response (PR), the PR rate was 75%, and the response rate was 100%. While the response rate of MP regimen was 66.7%, M2 regimen 76.9%,VAD regimen 89.6%. Therefore bortezomib plus dexamethasone seems to be more effective than conventional chemotherapy. ConclusionsBortezomib plus dexamethasone chemotherapy is an effective treatment for previously untreated multiple myeloma patients with light side effects, especially in the eldly patients.