Ultra high-risk myeloma can be defined as myeloma leading to death within 24 months. Despite tremendous improvements in the past decade (especially because of the availability of novel drugs such as thalidomide, bortezomib, and lenalidomide), these patients still represent 15% to 20% of the patients. Many prognostic factors can help to define these patients, including age, renal insufficiency, ...

We evaluated the clinical significance of prognostic factors including the International Staging System (ISS) and modified European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation response criteria in 1650 Japanese patients with multiple myeloma (MM) who underwent upfront single autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT). We categorized patients into two treatment cohorts: pre-novel agent era (1995...

Results: Of 31 patients with MM, 19 cases were male. The median age was 63 (Range: 49-90 years). The mean vit-D level was 11.9±7.6ng/ml, and was low in 20 of 33 cases (93%). The vit D level was significantly lower in cases whom a greater number of chemotherapy cycles was administered (p= 0.033). There was no statistically significant relationship between blood vit D level and bone fracture deve...

I N CHRONIC lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), a centam number of prognostic factors have been isolated. Some of them were grouped by Rai et al.’ in a clinical staging system that has been widely acepted and venified.2 However, some attempts to improve this classification have been carried out.79 Recently, an International Workshop on CLL’#{176}has recommended a modified system for CLL staging, which ...

BACKGROUND We have reported promising outcomes using a staged approach, in which bortezomib/thalidomide/dexamethasone was used only in 14 patients with suboptimal response to VAD (vincristine/adriamycin/dexamethasone) before autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT). Here we compared the outcomes of the staged approach with frontline PAD (bortezomib/doxorubicin/dexamethasone) or VTD (bortezom...

BACKGROUND In the frame of a nationwide study of oropharyngeal carcinoma in the Netherlands (1986-1990), the current International Union Against Cancer 1992/American Joint Committee on Cancer 1988 staging system was evaluated with respect to patient distribution and prognostic value. METHODS Data related to epidemiology, treatment and survival from 640 patients referred for primary treatment ...

PURPOSE The new 8th American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC)/International Union for Cancer Control (UICC) lung cancer staging system was developed and internally validated using the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) database, but external validation is needed. The goal of this study is to validate the discriminatory ability and prognostic performance of this new s...