Open AccessLong‐term survival in multiple myeloma
Author(s) -
João Cristina,
Costa Carlos,
Coelho Inês,
Vergueiro Maria João,
Ferreira Mafalda,
Silva Maria Gomes
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
clinical case reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.21
H-Index - 9
ISSN - 2050-0904
DOI - 10.1002/ccr3.76
Subject(s) - medicine , multiple myeloma , survivorship curve , presentation (obstetrics) , intensive care medicine , overall survival , transplantation , oncology , surgery , cancer
Key Clinical Message The survival of multiple myeloma patients has improved very significantly over the last decade. Still median overall survival is inferior to 5 years. A small proportion of patients survive longer than 10 years. In this paper we discuss four cases illustrating the nonhomogeneous clinical presentation and evolution of this subset of patients. Surprisingly, these long survivors do not always have deep responses and some require frequent treatments, which include autologous stem cell transplantation and novel drugs. The authors discuss several aspects of these clinical histories, including treatment options, raising hypothesis on their relation with long survivorship which may be important to have in consideration when studying this subject.