Impact of CRAB Symptoms in Survival of Patients with Symptomatic Myeloma in Novel Agent Era

The acronym CRAB summarizes the most typical clinical manifestations of multiple myeloma, these being hypercalcemia, renal failure, anemia, and bone disease. CRAB can be used to distinguish between active, symptomatic multiple myeloma and monoclonal gammopathy of undermined significance or smoldering myeloma. The distinction is relevant not only for classification and diagnosis but also for therapy. CRAB factors influence the prognosis of multiple myeloma. However, it is unclear whether the presence of CRAB factors has an influence on the prognosis of myeloma treated with novel agents. In the current study, patients with hypercalcemia and bone disease showed a significantly worse prognosis, whereas anemia and renal failure showed no difference in survival. Novel agents used for treatment of patients with renal failure suggested a favorable outcome compared with conventional therapy. Bone disease was the most common factor and may have the strongest prognostic value in symptomatic myeloma patients using novel agents.

High Risk of Tumor Lysis Syndrome in Symptomatic Patients with Multiple Myeloma with Renal Dysfunction Treated with Bortezomib

BACKGROUND/AIM

Tumor lysis syndrome (TLS) is a life-threatening complication associated with cancer chemotherapy. We retrospectively evaluated the risk of developing TLS in patients with symptomatic multiple myeloma undergoing chemotherapy.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Sixty-four patients (median age=71 years, range=48-87 years, 35 males/29 females) who were treated at our Institution between April 2006 and December 2015 were evaluated.

RESULTS

A total of 124 chemotherapy courses were administered, of which 63 courses were bortezomib-based regimens and 34 courses were immunomodulatory drug (IMiD)-based regimens. TLS occurred in 13 (10.5%) out of 124 chemotherapy courses with five (4.0%) cases of laboratory TLS and eight (6.5%) cases of clinical TLS. The incidences of TLS were 17.5% for bortezomib-containing regimens and 3.2% for non-bortezomib-based regimens. No TLS occurred in the patients treated with IMiD-containing regimens. TLS occurred more frequently in the patients with elevated uric acid, creatinine, or beta-2-microglobulin levels at baseline. The patients with disease classified as advanced International Staging System also developed TLS more frequently. All the patients who developed clinical TLS received bortezomib-containing regimens (8/63, 12.7%). Among them, patients with elevated values of uric acid or creatinine developed clinical TLS more often than those without such elevation. The incidence of clinical TLS was 33.3% if the patients had renal dysfunction at baseline and were subsequently treated with bortezomib-based regimens (8/24 cases).

CONCLUSION

Patients with renal dysfunction or a high uric acid level receiving bortezomib-based chemotherapy have a high risk of developing TLS.