Raheem Ahmed
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Research Mentor(s): Jason Chen, Fellow
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Michigan Medicine/Internal Medicine, Hematology/Oncology,
Presentation Date: Thursday, April 22, 2021
Session: Session 6 (4pm-4:50pm)
Breakout Room: Room 10
Presenter: 4
Abstract
Plasma cell leukemia (PCL) is a rare variant of multiple myeloma (MM), defined as >=20% plasma cells in peripheral blood by the International Myeloma Working Group (IMWG). Patients with PCL have worse outcomes than MM patients despite aggressive treatment with proteasome inhibitors, such as bortezomib, along with other agents. However, few studies have investigated the efficacy of proteosome inhibitors in PCL patients. This study is a single-center, retrospective study using previously collected data from 63 adult patients treated at Michigan Medicine between 1996 and 2019. Statistical analyses included Kaplan-Meier survival and Cox regression analyses. Patients were predominantly white (79%), with a mean age of 62 years, and received a median of four lines of treatment with 85% receiving bortezomib. Our study demonstrated that the use of bortezomib did not significantly improve overall survival (OS) compared to those that did not receive bortezomib (HR 0.85, p=0.7). The overall 12-month survival for PCL patients treated with bortezomib was 68% compared to 50% for those that did not receive bortezomib. We also investigated the efficacy of other treatments such as immunomodulators (IMID) and autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT). There was significantly improved OS in patients that received IMID therapy (HR 0.23, p=0.001), as well as those that received ASCT therapy (HR 0.31, p=0.0002). Our study demonstrates that bortezomib and other treatments have efficacy in PCL, though further studies with larger patient cohorts are warranted.
Authors: Raheem Ahmed, Kashvi Gupta, Malathi Kandarpa, Erica Campagnaro, Jason Chen
Research Method: Clinical Research
