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. 1990 Dec;81(12):1320–1327. doi: 10.1111/j.1349-7006.1990.tb02697.x

Multi‐drug Combination Therapy with Vincristine‐Melphalan‐Cyclophosphamide‐Prednisolone Was More Effective than Cyclophosphamide‐Prednisolone in Stage III Myeloma

Kazuyuki Shimizu 1, Osamu Kamiya 2, Nobuyuki Hamajima 3, Harumitsu Mizuno 4, Masahide Kobayashi 5, Noriyuki Hirabayashi 6, Hideo Takeyama 7, Ryoichi Kato 8, Kohei Kawashima 9, Masakazu Nitta 10, Tomomitsu Hotta 3, Makoto Utsumi 11, Eiichi Nagura 12
PMCID: PMC5918012  PMID: 2126002

Abstract

A cooperative randomized clinical trial to compare the effectiveness of multi‐drug combination chemotherapy (VMCP, vincristine‐melphalan‐cyclophosphamide‐prednisolone) with CP (cyclophosphamide‐prednisolone) for the treatment of multiple myeloma was performed. When the whole group of patients was evaluated, the choice of chemotherapy (VMCP or CP) was not a significant prognostic factor associated with response or survival by uni‐ or multivariate analysis, and the difference between the survival curves of the treatment groups was only marginally significant. However, when the analysis was confined to stage III patients, the choice of chemotherapy became a significant prognostic factor associated with both response rate and survival, and the statistical difference between survival curves was significant. Taking the disease characteristics of multiple myeloma into consideration, the better result obtained with multi‐drug combination chemotherapy in the treatment of stage III patients is consistent with other studies supporting the superiority of multi‐drug combination chemotherapy for patients with overt systemic disease.

Keywords: Multiple myeloma, Multi‐drug combination chemotherapy, Standard chemotherapy, Multivariate analyses, Prognostic factors

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Communications should be directed to: Kazuyuki Shimizu, M.D.: Department of Medicine, Fujita Health University School of Medicine, Kutsukake‐cho, Toyoake, Aichi 470–11.

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