Comparison of Two Therapeutic Regimes, Lenalidomide with Dexamethasone and Thalidomide with Dexamethasone, in the Treatment of Multiple Myeloma at a Tertiary Care Hospital in India

BACKGROUND: Multiple myeloma accounts for 1% of all neoplastic disorders and 10% of all haematological malignancies. Drugs like thalidomide, lenalidomide and bortezomib have emerged as active drugs in the treatment of multiple myeloma.There are few studies which have compared thalidomide-dexamethasone (thal/dex) and lenalidomide-dexamethasone (len/dex) in the treatment of multiple myeloma in Indian scenario. AIM: To compare the efficacy and the adverse events observed with thalidomide-dexamethasone and lenalidomide-dexamethasone in the treatment of newly diagnosed cases of multiple myeloma. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Observational Study conducted in tertiary care centre. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The case record files of patients from the year January 2006 to July 2011 with diagnosis of multiple myeloma were studied. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Primarily Descriptive. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between thal/dex and len/dex treatment groups with respect to efficacy and safety in our study. CONCLUSION: Studies with larger sample size and a longer follow up to compare efficacy and safety of thal/dex and len/dex in treatment of multiple myeloma are required to be carried out to provide significant results.