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doubledd Member
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<a href="http://lc.fdots.com/cc/lc/8f/8f662058f7058fbe50e39a2bafb8c046.gif" border="0" alt="MyHotComments.com"></a><br><a href="MyHotCommentshttp://www.myhotcomments.com/graphics/29193">MyHotComments</a> <br clear="left">My husband was diagnosed in 2002 with mm. He underwent treatment with high dose decadron and thalidomide for 8 months. His levels dropped to under virtually nothing. Since August of 2007, the levels have slowly climbed even with the same treatment as in 2007. We are just switching to Revlimed with decadron. Hoping for good results. Anyone had the same regiment of treatment with success? We are hoping to add another 5-6 years of good life. Thanks, doubledd |
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Annick Member
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Hi doubledd, I'm the research coordinator here at HCI, and I wanted to take a few minutes to answer your question with the perspective of someone who oversees clinical trials. As you may know, Revlimid(aka lenalidomide) is chemically similar to thalidomide, and given that your husband progressed after 8 months of thal/dex, I suspect the same may hold true for the rev/dex combination. That's not an uncommon story in the treatment of myeloma patients, which is one of the reasons we employ these drugs as part of a post-transplantation maintenance regimen but don't use them as primary treatment. Thus far, there have been no large scale clinical trials looking at overall survival rates on the rev/dex combo, so there's no documented evidence that it will give you those 5-6 years of high quality life that you both seek. However, with tandem transplantation, we have been able to achieve overall survival rates of 10+ years in approximately 50% of patients, so I would suggest that consider whether that option is right for your husband. Obviously, transplantation is harder on the body than revlimid and dex, but most patients are able to go through our treatment approach without major toxicity. If you are ever interested in obtaining more information, please feel free to contact me. |
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