title: Attainment of a stringent complete response in multiple myeloma with thalidomide monotherapy.
abstract: Treatment of patients with multiple myeloma (MM) has drastically changed with the introduction of novel agents such as thalidomide, lenalidomide, and bortezomib, but treatment outcome of elderly patients has remained dismal mainly due to toxicities. We report an 82-year-old MM patient attaining stringent complete response (sCR) at 12 months with a daily dose of 100 mg of thalidomide monotherapy. She remains on thalidomide monotherapy and presently maintains a normalized serum free light chain ratio at 18 months. This is the first case of MM achieving sCR with thalidomide monotherapy, and shows that single-agent thalidomide can be effective and concomitant use of dexamethasone may not be necessary in frail elderly patients.
authors.affiliation: Division of Hematology, Department of Medicine, Juntendo University Nerima Hospital, Japan.
authors.forename: Nanae
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Aritaka
authors.forename: Kunimoto
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ichikawa
authors.forename: Hiroko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Hajime
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yasuda
authors.forename: Kanako
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ogura
authors.forename: Toshiharu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: Norio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Komatsu
authors.forename: Takao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hirano
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007147:Immunoglobulin Light Chains / Q000097:blood; D007155:Immunologic Factors / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D009101:Multiple Myeloma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology; D013792:Thalidomide / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D007147:Immunoglobulin Light Chains; D007155:Immunologic Factors; D013792:Thalidomide