ABSTRACT
Background. for many years the primary aim of treatment strategy for ph-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms has been to restrain disease progression, with lasting relief and management of symptoms to improve patients' quality of life. Generally, this did not lead to a significant increase in life expectancy with primary myelofibrosis and didn't decrease the risk of fibrosis in patients with polycythemia vera and essential thrombocythemia. To date a new class of targeted drugs has been developed, it is JAK2 inhibitors with pathogenetic effects. The results of clinical trials showed the high efficacy of the first registered drug of this its kind - ruxolitinib - that includes a faster reduction in the symptoms of tumor intoxication and in symptoms associated with the development of splenomegaly and increase in the overall survival rates. It is known that the data obtained during clinical trials of medicines may differ from the results obtained in routine clinical practice. In actual practice drugs are used in a much wider heterogeneous population of patients, less limited first of all by age and comorbid characteristics. It is possible to analyze cohorts of patients including a larger number of clinical cases with a longer follow-up period. In this regard of great interest is the actual clinical experience of long-term use of ruxolitinib in patients whose set is limited only by clinical contraindications for prescribing the drug. Aim. To present our own actual experience of targeted therapy of myelofibrosis and compare the results obtained with the data of clinical trials. Materials and methods. Our analysis includes data from 141 patients (67 (47.5 %) men and 74 (52.5 %) women) in a chronic phase myelofibrosis. All patients received ruxolitinib. Of these, 109 (69 %) patients had primary myelofibrosis, 26 (16 %) - postpolycythemia myelofibrosis, 6 (4 %) - postessential thrombocythemia myelofibrosis. The median age at the start of therapy was 62 (18-84) years. The median disease duration before ruxolitinib was prescribed - 79 (1-401) months. According to the dIpSS (dynamic International prognostic Scoring System) criteria, 13 % of patients were assigned to the low risk group, 38 % - to the intermediate-1, 36 % - to the intermediate-2, 13 % - to the high risk group. Most patients (52 %) had grade 3 bone marrow fibrosis. Results. The median duration of treatment was 18 (range from 1 to 115) months. Symptoms of intoxication were relieved 74 (81 %) of 91 patients, the spleen size decreased in 81 % of patients (the spleen size returned to normal in 25 % of patients). The increase in the median hemoglobin level was 15 %. The proportion of patients requiring blood transfusion decreased by 4 times (from 39 to 9 %). Mean platelet levels normalized in most patients with baseline high and low platelet levels. A complete clinical and hematological response was achieved in 16 % (n = 23) of cases, a partial response - in 26 % (n = 37) of cases, clinical improvement - in 21 % (n = 30), disease stabilization - in 33 % (n = 46) of cases. No response was received in 1 (1 %) patient and in 3 (3 %) cases there was progression of the disease. At the time of analysis, 81 (57 %) of 141 patients were continuing the ruxolitinib treatment. The fatal outcome in 33 (22 %) patients was associated with concomitant diseases, among which 20 (14 %) died from proven COvId-19 infection. Overall survival: 1-year 81 %, 2-year 73 %, 5-year 50 %. Overall survival excluding deaths due to COvId-19: 1-year 92 %, 2-year 85 %, 5-year 70 %. Massive splenomegaly and a high degree of fibrosis were unfavorable predictors of prognosis of overall survival. Conclusion. Target therapy with Janus kinase inhibitor ruxolitinib has demonstrated high efficacy in patients with myelofibrosis in routine clinical practice. The most rapid effect ruxolitinib had on the spleen size and the symptoms of intoxication. Tolerability of ruxolitinib therapy was generally satisfactory. The overall and progression-free survival rates in patients with myelofibrosis, receiving ruxolitinib i the clinical setting was consistent with the results of international multicenter clinical trials. Copyright © 2022 ABV-Press Publishing House. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Background. The treatment of elderly patients with acute myeloid leukemias (AML) is one of the most formidable challenges in oncohematology. Hypomethylating drugs combined with venetoclax show relatively high efficacy and lower toxicity in elderly AML patients. Aim. To retrospectively analyze the efficacy and tolerability of the combined azacitidine/venetoclax therapy in AML primary patients of older age as well as to determine a spectrum of issues related to the implementation of this regimen in real-world clinical practice. Materials & Methods. The retrospective analysis enrolled a cohort of patients followed-up at the Botkin City Clinical Hospital (n = 35). The median age was 73 years (range 60-90 years), 57 % of patients were over 70 years of age. The median follow-up duration was 5.2 months (range 1.6-42.6 months). By the time of final analysis 15 patients were still receiving the therapy. The median of overall survival was 11.1 months (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 8.1-14.1 months). The causes of death in 20 patients were AML progression (n = 3), non-COVID-19 infectious complications (n = 3), and COVID-19 (n = 10). In 4 patients the cause of death remained unidentified. Results. Complete remission (CR) was documented in 17 (48.5 %) patients;CR with incomplete hematologic recovery was identified in 9 (26 %) patients. The median time before achieving remission was 67 days (range 27-120 days). In 96 % of patients CR was achieved after 3 azacitidine/venetoclax cycles. The mean CR duration was 9.2 months (95% CI 5.7-12.6 months);the median time before loss of response was 19 months. Relapses were diagnosed in 5 patients. Neutropenia > grade 3 was identified in patients who achieved remission on subsequent therapy cycles in 100 % of cases (n = 26), anemia > grade 2 was reported in 9 (34 %) patients, and thrombocytopenia > grade 3 was detected in 13 (50 %) patients. Despite frequent neutropenia, patients with remission did not show any severe infectious complications. Conclusion. The combined azacitidine/venetoclax therapy in elderly patients yields remission in more than 70 % of cases and is not marked by any severe infectious complications, despite developing neutropenia. Due to its ease of administration and low toxicity, this regimen can be performed in outpatient units. © 2022 Practical Medicine Publishing House. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
AIM: The primary objective of the interim analysis of the MULTISPECT study was to evaluate the short-term efficacy of the treatment and long-term outcomes in cohorts of primary and pretreated patients with multiple myeloma (MM) receiving treatment in actual clinical practice in various regions of the Russian Federation. Secondary objectives were a description of the main characteristics of patients; analysis of the most commonly used therapy regimens of the 1st and later lines and the sequence of their changes; evaluation of the response to therapy. Additional objectives included evaluation of the effect of the new COVID-19 coronavirus infection on the course of MM in patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study is an observational retrospective-prospective multicenter cohort study. For its implementation, a structured database of patients with MM was used, provided by hematologists of the centers affiliated for the study. RESULTS: The study included 1,294 patients (cohort 1 806, cohort 2 488). In both cohorts, patients aged 6069 years were in the majority. 3 lines of therapy (L1, L2, L3) were used for cohort 1; in cohort 2, the 4th line of therapy was also used in 2 patients. The therapy regimens were analyzed for 290 (22.41%) of all patients in the study. Responses to therapy were analyzed for 214 patients of cohort 1 and 109 patients of cohort 2. Autologous and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantations were carried out for a limited proportion of patients in both cohorts. At the end of the study and upon presentation of its results, the status of patients was the following: 96% of patients in cohort 1 and 89% in cohort 2 were alive. The therapy regimens in both cohorts were characterized by variability. The most commonly used regimens in each of the lines of therapy have been identified. The most used therapy regimen in patients with MM of both cohorts was the VCD-regime. Rd-regime in cohort 1 and RD-regime in cohort 2 were the second most frequent used regimens. In patients of both cohorts, the therapy regimens including Bortezomib were most often used. CONCLUSION: The variety of therapy regimens used to treat MM in actual clinical practice may be due to the factors of availability of new medicines and updated recommendations for the treatment of the disease. Further, in the context of this study, a more detailed analysis of the efficacy of certain therapy regimens in the 1st and later lines on progression free survival and overall survival of MM patients should be carried out.