Delayed diagnosis resulting in increased disease burden in multiple myeloma: the legacy of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had global healthcare impacts, including high mortality from SARS-CoV-2 infection in cancer patients; individuals with multiple myeloma (MM) are especially susceptible to poor outcomes. However, even for MM patients who avoided severe infection, the ramifications of the pandemic have been considerable. The consequences of necessary socio-geographical behavior adaptation, including prolonged shielding and interruptions in delivery of non-pandemic medical services are yet to be fully understood. Using a real-world dataset of 323 consecutive newly diagnosed MM patients in England, we investigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on routes to myeloma diagnosis, disease stage at presentation and relevant clinical outcomes. We demonstrate increasing MM presentations via emergency services and increased rates of bony and extra-medullary disease. Differences were seen in choice of induction therapy and the proportion of eligible patients undertaking autologous stem cell transplantation. Whilst survival was statistically inferior for emergency presentations, significant survival differences have yet to be demonstrated for the entire cohort diagnosed during the pandemic, making extended follow-up critical in this group. This dataset highlights wide-ranging issues facing MM patients consequent of the COVID-19 pandemic, with full impacts for clinicians and policy-makers yet to be elucidated.

COVID-19 vaccination in patients with multiple myeloma: a consensus of the European Myeloma Network.

Patients with multiple myeloma frequently present with substantial immune impairment and an increased risk for infections and infection-related mortality. The risk for infection with SARS-CoV-2 virus and resulting mortality is also increased, emphasising the importance of protecting patients by vaccination. Available data in patients with multiple myeloma suggest a suboptimal anti-SARS-CoV-2 immune response, meaning a proportion of patients are unprotected. Factors associated with poor response are uncontrolled disease, immunosuppression, concomitant therapy, more lines of therapy, and CD38 antibody-directed and B-cell maturation antigen-directed therapy. These facts suggest that monitoring the immune response to vaccination in patients with multiple myeloma might provide guidance for clinical management, such as administration of additional doses of the same or another vaccine, or even temporary treatment discontinuation, if possible. In those who do not exhibit a good response, prophylactic treatment with neutralising monoclonal antibody cocktails might be considered. In patients deficient of a SARS-CoV-2 immune response, adherence to measures for infection risk reduction is particularly recommended. This consensus was generated by members of the European Multiple Myeloma Network and some external experts. The panel members convened in virtual meetings and conducted an extensive literature research and evaluated recently published data and work presented at meetings, as well as findings from their own studies. The outcome of the discussions on establishing consensus recommendations for COVID-19 vaccination in patients with multiple myeloma was condensed into this Review.