Lenalidomide in multiple myeloma-a practice guideline

Promising new drugs such as lenalidomide, an immunomodulatory agent, are available for the treatment of multiple myeloma. We describe the process of creating a provincial guideline for the use of lenalidomide, alone or in combination with other drugs, in relapsed, refractory, or newly diagnosed disease (including smoldering and symptomatic patients, and candidates and non-candidates for transplant) and in maintenance treatment (after transplant or non-transplant therapy); and for strategies to manage lenalidomide-related toxicities.

Outcomes of interest included overall survival, event-free survival, progression-free survival, time to progression, time to next treatment, response rate, and incidence of serious toxicity. The medline, embase, and Cochrane Library databases, as well as meeting abstracts and the Web sites of relevant organizations, were systematically searched for relevant literature.

Recommendations were developed using the evidence from published studies and the clinical expertise of the working group and of the Cancer Care Ontario Hematology Disease Site Group.

Lenalidomide in combination with dexamethasone can be recommended for both previously untreated and treated patients with multiple myeloma. Guidelines for the management of cytopenias, venous thromboembolism, and second primary malignancies are discussed.