Gender-Specific Aspects in Patients with Multiple Myeloma Undergoing Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation: A Single-Center Experience.

OBJECTIVE: Limited data exist on gender-specific aspects in hematologic malignancies and have been obtained mostly in non-Hodgkin lymphomas. The objective of this study was to investigate gender-specific aspects in patients with multiple myeloma (MM) undergoing autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT). METHODS: A retrospective data analysis of 191 patients with MM who underwent ASCT was performed. Data collected from clinical records included age, sex, stage, induction therapy, outcome of induction, kind of stem cell mobilization, response to induction therapy and ASCT, cytogenetic aberrations, progression-free survival, and overall survival. RESULTS: Eighty-one patients (42%) were female, whereas 110 patients were male (58%). No differences between female and male patients could be observed according to the international staging system (ISS) (e.g. , ISS III: 14.8 vs. 17.3%), type of paraprotein, and cytogenetic aberrations (e.g., Del(13q): 32.7 vs. 28.9%). Five-year overall survival rates, when calculated from time to ASCT until death, were 27.2 and 36.4% and, when calculated from time to diagnosis until death, were 34.6 and 44.5%, respectively, and did not differ between groups according to ISS subgroups. CONCLUSION: Prognosis and baseline characteristics were identical and no differences could be observed between female and male patients with MM undergoing ASCT.