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We aimed at demonstrating non-inferiority of bortezomib/cyclophosphamide/dexamethasone (VCD) compared to bortezomib/doxorubicin/dexamethasone (PAd) induction therapy with respect to very good partial response rates or better (⩾VGPR) in 504 newly diagnosed, transplant-eligible multiple myeloma patients. VCD was found to be non-inferior to PAd with respect to ⩾VGPR rates (37.0 versus 34.3%, P=0.001). The rates of progressive disease (PD) were 0.4% (VCD) versus 4.8% (PAd; P=0.003). In the PAd arm, 11 of 12 patients with PD had either renal impairment (creatinine ⩾2 mg/dl) at diagnosis or the cytogenetic abnormality gain 1q21, whereas no PD was observed in these subgroups in the VCD arm. Leukocytopenia/neutropenia (⩾3°) occurred more frequently in the VCD arm (35.2% versus 11.3%, P<0.001). Neuropathy rates (⩾2°) were higher in the PAd group (14.9 versus 8.4%, P=0.03). Serious adverse events, both overall and those related to thromboembolic events, were higher in the PAd group (32.7 versus 24.0%, P=0.04 and 2.8 versus 0.4%, P=0.04). Stem cell collection was not impeded by VCD. VCD is as effective as PAd in terms of achieving ⩾VGPR rates with fewer PD and has a favorable toxicity profile. Therefore, VCD is preferable to PAd as induction therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elotuzumab is the first monoclonal antibody approved for the treatment of relapsed-refractory multiple myeloma (MM) in combination with lenalidomide, an immunodulatory drug, and dexamethasone. We report on a multiply pre-treated MM patient with disease progression due to appearance of new focal lesions on imaging modalities, who was started on a combination treatment of elotuzumab, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone. After completion of three cycles of the new therapy the patient responded very well with a major decline of serological myeloma activity parameters serum monoclonal protein, kappa light chains, free light chains (FLC) ratio. The patient was also monitored with the functional imaging modalities 18F-FDG PET/CT and diffusion weighted imaging (DWI), which exhibited a mismatch of almost complete metabolic remission on positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) with 18F-fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose (18F-FDG) (consistent with the serological response), and signal elevation persistence on DWI. This case demonstrates the potentially superior performance of 18F-FDG PET/CT over DWI in early response evaluation of combined treatment with a monoclonal antibody, an immunomodulatory drug, and dexamethasone in MM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]