Advanced therapy is an ideal treatment option for multiple myeloma and may benefit patients who couldn’t get cured by other treatment options.
What Is Multiple Myeloma? A bone marrow plasma cell malignancy called multiple myeloma. These cancerous plasma cells multiply in the marrow and decrease the normal blood cells like RBCs in blood and cause fatigue, damage the bones causing bone pains and fractures, and release abnormal proteins which damage the kidneys. Multiple myeloma cannot be cured but can be controlled by treatment for many years. So invariably, all patients with multiple myeloma will relapse, meaning the disease will return after the initial treatment. Dr Satish Kumar, Consultant Hematologist and Hemato Oncologist at Manipal Hospital, Yeshwanthpur,shares several advances in managing and supportive care of relapsed myeloma that has significantly prolonged these patients’ survival.
Non-Chemotherapy Drugs
Many non-chemotherapy drugs specifically target cancer cells and hence have less toxicity than chemotherapy drugs. These drugs are given in combination in the form of triplets or quadruplets to increase the efficacy of treatment. The choice of medicines depends on age, other medical issues, risk stratification of disease, an initial treatment used, the duration of response to treatment and patient preferences. After controlling the disease with these drugs, patients may be taken for autologous stem cell transplant if they are less than 65 years and have not undergone the same as part of the initial treatment. This will significantly prolong progression-free survival.
Monoclonal Antibodies
Monoclonal antibodies are now available, explicitly targeting specific proteins in myeloma cells. Daratumumab and elotuzumab are two drugs that have shown significant efficacy in trials and real-world experience. These drugs can be used upfront or in relapsed settings and have given superior results to standard medications.
CAR-T Cell Therapy
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The latest breakthrough is CAR-T cell therapy. CAR-T cell therapy involves genetically modifying a patient’s immune cells (called T cells) to recognise and kill myeloma cancer cells. This treatment also has shown promising results and high response rates in trials.
Key Benefits of Advanced Therapy for Relapsed Multiple Myeloma
Advanced therapy, whether CAR-T cell therapy or monoclonal antibodies, is highly effective in treating relapsed multiple myeloma. They do so by tagging and targeting cancer cells precisely and boosting the body’s immune response. Some of the key benefits of advanced therapy for relapsed multiple myeloma include the following:
- Improved Response Rates: Advanced therapy shows increased response rates in multiple myeloma patients who have previously undergone various other treatments. For example, CAR T-cell therapy has shown up to an 80% response rate in clinical trials.
- Increased Remission Times: In relapsed multiple myeloma patients, advanced therapy helps achieve long-lasting remission periods, reducing the need for regular treatments and improving the patient’s overall quality of life.
- Personalised Treatment: Thanks to advanced therapy, a treatment plan can be personalised for a patient based on different health conditions. Targeted treatment leads to better health outcomes.
- Reduction In Side-effects: As you know, chemotherapy has severe side effects. Advanced therapy is less toxic to patients and gives them a better quality of life during treatment.
Overall, advanced therapy is an ideal treatment option for multiple myeloma and may benefit patients who couldn’t get cured by other treatment options. However, advanced therapy is a novel treatment approach; more scientific research and trials are needed to understand its possibilities.
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