Abstract 2876

Poster Board II-852

Multiple myeloma (MM) patients (pts) are immunosuppressed given the underlying disease, previous treatments and myelosuppression seen on lenalidomide (Revlimid, Rev). We evaluated the infectious complications seen on Celgene's Expanded Access Rev program at Princess Margaret Hospital. We have treated 75 pts who had progressed after at least one prior therapy as part of a national study in Canada. At entry, pts were required to have a neutrophil count of ≥1.0 ×109/L. The median age was 61 yrs (range 35-79); 52% were males. Prior therapy included stem cell transplant in 65, thalidomide in 54 and bortezomib in 24. Number of lines of prior therapy were as follows: 24 (one), 29 (two), 16 (three), 8 (four) and one (five). Neupogen was used liberally (63%) after a patient had a dose delay on trial due to neutropenia. Patients were treated with full dose lenalidomide at entry onto clinical trial and were maintained on full dosing unless platelet counts were <30×109/L or ANC was <1.0×109/L. No other dose adjustments were made for renal dysfunction.

Results:

There were 32 pts (43%) who had a clinically evident infection; the majority (91%) was on prophylactic antibiotics (septra/ciprofloxacin) at the time. There were two deaths due to infection and 23 pts (72%) required hospitalization (range 2-27 days). The majority of infections occurred within the first 4 cycles of treatment (26 pts) and seemed to occur more in pts with several lines of prior therapy – 7/24 (29%) with 1 prior therapy, 14/29 (48%) with 2, 9/16 (56%) with 3 and 2/8 (25%) with 4 prior therapies. Sixteen were neutropenic of which 7 had febrile neutropenia (9%). The types of infections were: respiratory in 14 (1 with pneumocystis pneumonia), cellulitis in 4, herpes simplex and herpes zoster in 2 pts each. These included streptococcus pneumoniae (1), staphylococcus aureus (3), respiratory syncitial virus (1) and mycobacterium chelonae (1). Rev was held during the infection in 23 pts (72%).

Conclusions:

1) Infections are frequent in this patient population (43%) and often lead to hospitalization (72%); respiratory infections accounted for a large majority (43%).

2) Early aggressive growth factor support and broader antibiotic prophylaxis may be of benefit especially in heavily pretreated patients.

3) Dose reduction of Rev in the context of serious infections should be further evaluated.

Disclosures:

Kukreti:Celgene: Honoraria. Trudel:Celgene: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; Ortho Biotech: Honoraria. Chen:Celgene: Honoraria.

Topics:
adrenal corticosteroids, glucocorticoids, infection as complication of medical care, lenalidomide, mineralocorticoids, multiple myeloma, brachial plexus neuritis, infections, antibiotic prophylaxis, neutropenia

Author notes

*

Asterisk with author names denotes non-ASH members.

© 2009 by The American Society of Hematology
2009
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