[Treatments of multiple myeloma in 1992]

In 1992, the Melphalan-Prednisone (M. P.) protocol remains a standard treatment of multiple myeloma even if a lot of new ways have been investigated during the last years. Polychemotherapies may appear better than M.P. for high tumor mass myeloma. Interferon is useful as maintenance treatment after chemotherapy. Combinations of interferon and chemotherapy, during the induction phase, are under evaluation. Because of their toxicity, heavier treatments, with stem cells reinfusion, are being developed mainly with younger patients. Thanks to these approaches the response's rate is increasing but any improvement of survival is still to be demonstrated. Other recent investigations have concerned diphosphonates and immunoregulators. Larger use of these new treatments requires more informations about prognostic factors and their integration in therapeutic strategy of myeloma.