Second malignancies in the context of lenalidomide treatment: an analysis of 2732 myeloma patients enrolled to the Myeloma XI trial.

We have carried out the largest randomised trial to date of newly diagnosed myeloma patients, in which lenalidomide has been used as an induction and maintenance treatment option and here report its impact on second primary malignancy (SPM) incidence and pathology. After review, 104 SPMs were confirmed in 96 of 2732 trial patients. The cumulative incidence of SPM was 0.7% (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.4-1.0%), 2.3% (95% CI 1.6-2.7%) and 3.8% (95% CI 2.9-4.6%) at 1, 2 and 3 years, respectively. Patients receiving maintenance lenalidomide had a significantly higher SPM incidence overall (P=0.011). Age is a risk factor with the highest SPM incidence observed in transplant non-eligible patients aged >74 years receiving lenalidomide maintenance. The 3-year cumulative incidence in this group was 17.3% (95% CI 8.2-26.4%), compared with 6.5% (95% CI 0.2-12.9%) in observation only patients (P=0.049). There was a low overall incidence of haematological SPM (0.5%). The higher SPM incidence in patients receiving lenalidomide maintenance therapy, especially in advanced age, warrants ongoing monitoring although the benefit on survival is likely to outweigh risk.

A prospective study of complications of pulmonary artery catheterizations in 500 consecutive patients.

Five hundred twenty-eight pulmonary artery catheters were inserted in 500 patients at the New York University Medical Center between May and November, 1981. Complications occurred in 126 of 528 catheterizations. Serious complications occurred in only 23 of these 528 catheterizations (4.4 percent). These complications, while serious, did not contribute directly to any of 31 deaths seen in these patients. Pulmonary artery catheters were reported by clinicians to have been of benefit in the management of 80 percent of these patients. We conclude, in view of this experience, that the wide use of these catheters is justified, but only if there is a probability that the catheters will significantly contribute to the management of the individual patient.

A novel prognostic model in myeloma based on co-segregating adverse FISH lesions and the ISS: analysis of patients treated in the MRC Myeloma IX trial.

The association of genetic lesions detected by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with survival was analyzed in 1069 patients with newly presenting myeloma treated in the Medical Research Council Myeloma IX trial, with the aim of identifying patients associated with the worst prognosis. A comprehensive FISH panel was performed, and the lesions associated with short progression-free survival and overall survival (OS) in multivariate analysis were +1q21, del(17p13) and an adverse immunoglobulin heavy chain gene (IGH) translocation group incorporating t(4;14), t(14;16) and t(14;20). These lesions frequently co-segregated, and there was an association between the accumulation of these adverse FISH lesions and a progressive impairment of survival. This observation was used to define a series of risk groups based on number of adverse lesions. Taking this approach, we defined a favorable risk group by the absence of adverse genetic lesions, an intermediate group with one adverse lesion and a high-risk group defined by the co-segregation of >1 adverse lesion. This genetic grouping was independent of the International Staging System (ISS) and so was integrated with the ISS to identify an ultra-high-risk group defined by ISS II or III and >1 adverse lesion. This group constituted 13.8% of patients and was associated with a median OS of 19.4 months.