Search

There are some reports regarding hepatitis B virus (HBV) reactivation in patients with myeloma who are HBV carriers or who have had a resolved HBV infection, and there is no standard prophylaxis strategy for these patients. We performed a retrospective multicenter study to determine the incidence and characteristics of HBV reactivation in patients with multiple myeloma. We identified 641 patients with multiple myeloma who had been treated using novel agents and/or autologous stem cell transplantation with high-dose chemotherapy between January 2006 and June 2014 at nine Japanese hospitals. The patients' characteristics, laboratory data, and clinical courses were retrieved and statistically analyzed. During a median follow-up of 101 weeks, one of eight (12.5 %) HBV carriers developed hepatitis and 9 of 99 (9.1 %) patients with resolved HBV infection experienced HBV reactivation; the cumulative incidences of HBV reactivation at 2 years (104 weeks) and 5 years (260 weeks) were 8 and 14 %, respectively. The nine cases of reactivation after resolved HBV infection had received entecavir as preemptive therapy or were carefully observed by monitoring their HBV DNA levels, and none of these cases developed hepatitis. Among patients with multiple myeloma, HBV reactivation was not rare. Therefore, long-term monitoring of HBV DNA levels is needed to prevent hepatitis that is related to HBV reactivation in these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reactivation of hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a well-known complication in patients with hematological malignancies during or after cytotoxic chemotherapy. If the initiation of antiviral therapy is delayed in patients with HBV reactivation, these patients can develop severe hepatitis and may die of fulminant hepatitis. The preventive strategy for HBV reactivation in patients with malignant lymphoma has already been established based on some prospective studies. As there was an increased number of novel agents being approved for the treatment of multiple myeloma (MM), the number of reported cases of HBV reactivation among MM patients has gradually increased. We conducted a Japanese nationwide retrospective study and revealed that HBV reactivation in MM patients is not rare and that autologous stem cell transplantation is a significant risk factor. In this study, around 20% of all patients with HBV reactivation developed HBV reactivation after 2 years from the initiation of therapy, unlike malignant lymphoma. This might be due to the fact that almost all of the patients received chemotherapy for a long duration. Therefore, a new strategy for the prevention of HBV reactivation in MM patients is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]