Vol 2, No 3 (2011)
Review paper
Published online: 2011-10-18
Role of maintenance therapy in the treatment of plasma cell myeloma
Hematologia 2011;2(3):256-265.
Abstract
The aims of maintenance therapy, a long-term treatment in patients who achieved a response
to remission induction and consolidation, are residual disease control and prolongation of
response duration. In patients with plasma cell myeloma (PCM) the maintenance therapy has
been under investigation for more than 30 years. However, not until introduction of
immunomodulatory agents and proteasome inhibitors into maintenance therapy, this strategy
has shown promising results in PCM. This paper presents the results of randomized clinical
trials on maintenance therapy with thalidomide, bortezomib and lenalidomide in patients with
PCM treated with conventional therapy and high-dose therapy with autologous hematopoietic
stem cell transplantation. The promising results of recent clinical trials, especially with
lenalidomide, may lead to the standarization of maintenance therapy in PCM.
Hematologia 2011; 2, 3: 256–265
Hematologia 2011; 2, 3: 256–265
Keywords: plasma cell myelomamaintenance treatmentthalidomidelenalidomidebortezomib
