[High life expectancy in multiple myeloma]

The authors describe the main clinicolaboratory finding of 9 patients with multiple myeloma (MM) who survived 10 and more years. The number of the "long-lived" survivors among 256 patients with MM seen from 1966 to 1980 amounted to 3.5%. The main characteristics of the disease of the "long-lived" survivors were correlated to those of 247 MM patients who survived for less than 10 years. In principle, no differences were revealed between the compared groups in term of the size of the initial tumor mass, red blood, and the degree of osteolysis. It was established that the 10-year and higher survival was observed in relatively young people without signs of renal insufficiency, who responded well to the cytostatic treatment. In 8 out of the 9 survivors, a long-term remission was attained by combining sarcolysine and prednisolone. The median survival rate for the entire group amounted to 25 months, that for the "long-lived" survivors to 133 months. In the authors' opinion, an unusually high survival rate among MM patients cannot be only attributed to successful cytostatic therapy. Among the 247 MM patients, 60% responded to the treatment fairly well. However, only 3.5% of the patients survived over 10 years. The prognosis of MM is likely to be determined by some individual features of the tumor and by the patients' antitumor defence mechanisms.