Clinical efficacy of thalidomide plus melphalan and prednisone in treatment of multiple myeloma

Objective To explore the efficacy and toxicity of patients with multiple myeloma(MM) treated with melphalan and prednisone(MP) regimen alone(the control group) compared with thalidomide plus MP regimen(the treated group).Methods Eeighteen patients in the treated group were initially admimistered thalidomide at dose of 100mg/d,then increased 50mg/d to 200mg/d every two weeks.Chemotherapy with melphalan 8mg/m2 daily and oral prednison 2mg/kg daily for 4d was acconpanied in all patients,each cycle lasted for one month.Twenty-one cases in the control group received chemotherapy with MP regimen alone.After 4 courses of treatment,the effects and side effects of the two groups were evaluated.Results In the treated group,after treatment,the serum Hb increased by 26.9% compared with that before treatment,myeloma cells decreased 73.2%,lgG decreased 50.0%,IgA decreased 84.7% after treatment,in the analysis,the P values were 0.02,0.047,0.183,0.047 respectively.In the control group,after treatment,the serum Hb increased by 22.8% compared with that before treatment,myeloma cells decreased 62.8%,lgG decreased 32.0% after treatment,in the analysis,the P values were 0.985,0.001,0.966 respectively.The total response rate was 72.22%(13/18) and 47.62%(10/21) in the treated group and in the control group,respectively,which demonstrated a significant difference(P0.05).The main side effects in the treated group were skin rash,constipation,somnolence and edema.Conclusion Thalidomide plus MP regimen is more effective than MP regimen alone in the treatment of MM,and it is well tolerable.