RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Since the early 2000s, treatment options for multiple myeloma have rapidly expanded, adding significant complexity to the management of this disease. To our knowledge, no systematic qualitative research on clinical decision-making in multiple myeloma has been published. We sought to characterize how physicians view and implement guidelines and incorporate novel approaches into patient care. METHODS: We designed a semi-structured qualitative interview guide informed by literature review and an expert advisory panel. We conducted 60-minute interviews with a diverse sample of oncology physicians in the southeast United States. We used a constant comparative method to code and analyze interview transcripts. The research team and advisory panel discussed and validated emergent themes. RESULTS: Participants were 13 oncologists representing 5 academic and 4 community practices. Academic physicians reported using formal risk-stratification schemas; community physicians typically did not. Physicians also described differences in eligibility criteria for transplantation; community physicians emphasized distance, social support, and psychosocial capacity in making decisions about transplantation referral; the academic physicians reported using more specific clinical criteria. All physicians reported using a maintenance strategy both for post-transplant and for transplant-ineligible patients; however, determining the timing of maintenance therapy initiation and the response were reported as challenging, as was recognition or definition of relapse, especially in terms of when treatment re-initiation is indicated. CONCLUSIONS: Practices reported by both academic and community physicians suggest opportunities for interventions to improve patient care and outcomes through optimal multiple myeloma management and therapy selection. Community physicians in particular might benefit from targeted education interventions about risk stratification, transplant eligibility, and novel therapies.
RESUMO
Although multiple myeloma remains incurable outside of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, novel agents made available only in the last few decades have nonetheless tremendously improved the landscape of myeloma treatment. Lenalidomide, of the immunomodulatory class of drugs, is one of those novel agents. In the non-transplant and relapsed/refractory settings, lenalidomide clearly benefits patients in terms of virtually all meaningful outcomes including overall survival. Data supporting the usage of lenalidomide as part of treatment approaches incorporating high-dose chemotherapy with autologous stem cell support (ASCT) are less mature as pertains to such long-term outcomes and toxicity, and lenalidomide is not currently approved by regulatory agencies for use in the context of ASCT in either the United States or Europe. That said, relatively preliminary efficacy data describing lenalidomide as a component of ASCT-based treatment approaches to MM are indeed promising, and consequently lenalidomide's role in ASCT-based treatment strategies is growing. In this review we summarize existing data that pertains to lenalidomide in the specific context of ASCT, and we share our thoughts on how our own group applies these data to approach this complex issue clinically.
