Treatment and prognostic factors for survival in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients with bortezomib and dexamethasone regimen: a single Chinese center retrospective study

OBJECTIVE The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the efficacy and prognostic factors of bortezomib and dexamethasone (BD) chemotherapy regimen in the treatment of newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM) patients in our hospital. METHODS A total of 47 newly diagnosed MM patients treated in our hospital from May 2010 to September 2016 were included in this study. All the enrolled patients received at least two cycles of BD chemotherapy regimen. RESULTS The overall response rate after treatment was 68.5% with a complete response of 23.4%, very good partial response of 17.0%, partial response of 21.3% and minor response of 6.8%. The median time of overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS) and time to progression (TTP) of the treated patients were 36.0, 19.0 and 18.0 months, respectively; the mean OS, PFS and TTP were 36.0, 19.3 and 18.8 months, respectively. Though some adverse events had occurred, none of the patients was discontinued from treatment. Level of albumin, β2-microglobulin and cytogenetic abnormalities were prognostic factors for OS, and plasma cell percentage in bone marrow, β2-microglobulin and cytogenetic abnormalities were prognostic factors for PFS as revealed by log-rank test of univariate analysis; no prognostic factors for OS and PFS were detected by COX regression of multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION Our study demonstrated that BD regimen was effective and well tolerated in newly diagnosed MM patients, and prognostic factors for patients' survival include level of albumin, plasma cell percentage in bone marrow, β2-microglobulin and cytogenetic abnormalities.