TREATMENT OF MULTIPLE-MYELOMA BY ALLOGENEIC BONE-MARROW TRANSPLANTATION

Multiple myeloma of IgG kappa type was diagnosed in a 42-year-old man with bone pains, dyspnoea on exertion and increasing drowsiness. Six chemotherapy cycles extending over 14 weeks and consisting of 15 mg/m2 melphalan intravenously on day 1 and 60 mg/m2 prednisolone orally on days 1-4 produced a partial remission. As the HLA-identical sister of the patient was willing to donate bone marrow, an After 7 days' conditioning treatment (hyperfractionated whole body irradiation with 12 Gy, chemotherapy with 70 mg/m2 melphalan and 60 mg/kg cyclophosphamide), 4.2 x 10(8) nucleated cells of donor marrow were infused per kg recipient body-weight through a central venous catheter. methotrexate and cyclosporin, an acute graft-versus-host reaction of grade II-III occurred on day 26, though it settled almost completely after treatment with daily 2 mg/kg prednisone and monoclonal interleukin-2 receptor antibodies (B-Bl0, daily 10 mg). On day 100 after the marrow transplantation, of complete remission with normal regeneration of may therefore be considered as a new and promising mode of treatment for younger patients with multiple myelomas.