Patients Under 50 Years of Age Do Not Present Specific Prognostic Characteristics: An IFM Study in 1897 Patients Under 65 Years of Age

Abstract 2837 Poster Board II-813 Age is a critical prognostic factor in many hematological malignancies. The reasons for this major prognostic impact are not univocal. For a large part, its prognostic value is in fact related to the therapy intensity tolerated by the patients. Because of frequent renal, hepatic, cardiac impairments, intensive therapies are not tolerated after 60 or 65 years, leading physicians to dramatically reduce treatment intensity in elderly patients. The question of a specific prognostic value of age in a more homogeneous population is an unresolved issue. In myeloma, it has been suggested that patients under 50 years of age presented more favorable features, explaining the better outcome observed in these patients (Ludwig et al., Blood 2008). However, the population was highly heterogeneous, treated both with conventional and intensive therapeutic strategies. In order to address this question, we reviewed the files of 1897 patients under 65 years of age, homogeneously treated within the IFM with high-dose melphalan, from 2000 to 2007. The median age was 56 years (range=23-65), the sex-ratio male/female was 54%. We addressed the issues of the prognostic impact of young age (177 μmol/l), hypercalcemia, low hemoglobin ( Disclosures: Attal: Janssen-Cilag: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Moreau:Janssen-Cilag: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Facon:Janssen-Cilag: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Harousseau:Janssen-Cilag: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees.