Dr Keith Stewart of The Mayo Clinic interviews Prof Antonio Palumbo of The University of Turin on the recent published abstract on secondary malignancies in elderly myeloma patients presented at the 13th International Myeloma Workshop. Advances in cancer detection and treatment have tripled cancer survivorship since 1971. However, longer survival increases the risk of second primary malignancy (SPM) development in these patients. Age is a well-characterized risk factor for primary malignancy development. Multiple myeloma (MM) is an incurable malignancy characterized by multiple relapses, and eventually, refractory disease and death. Therapy advances have resulted in significant survival benefits, with 5-year relative survival rates among patients with MM of all age groups having increased from 26% to 38% for patients first diagnosed in 1975-1977 and 1999-2006, respectively. In these patients, prolonged survival may increase the risk of developing an SPM. Prof Palumbo discusses the issue of SPM emergence in recent clinical trials evaluating the use of lenalidomide (Revlimid) in autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT)-eligible and -ineligible patients with newly diagnosed MM (NDMM) and describes SPM incidence in patients enrolled in MM-015 as well as spontaneous SPM reports from investigators for additional investigator sponsored trials.

You can read Prof Palumbo’s abstract on the IMW website here.

This programme was made possible with an educational grant provided by CELGENE.