BackgroundCALGB 100104 (Alliance) studied lenalidomide vs. placebo following autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) for newly diagnosed myeloma patients, demonstrating improved time to progression (TTP) and overall survival (OS), and an increase in second primary malignancies (SPM) for lenalidomide at 34-months median follow-up. Here we report an updated intent-to-treat analysis at 91-months median follow-up.MethodsPatients were eligible if they had active myeloma, had received at most two induction regimens and had achieved stable disease or better in the first 100 days after ASCT. In this phase 3 study, 460 patients were randomised in a double-blind manner to either lenalidomide (n=231) or placebo (n=229) utilizing a permutated-block randomisation with fixed block size. Randomisation was stratified by three factors: normal or elevated β2-microglobulin level at registration (≤2·5 mg/L vs > 2·5 mg/L), prior use or nonuse of thalidomide during induction therapy, and prior use or nonuse of lenalidomide during induction therapy. The starting dose was 10 mg daily, escalated to 15 mg daily after three months. The primary endpoint was TTP (time of progressive disease or death from any cause) using intent-to-treat analysis. After three interim analyses, the study was unblinded at median follow-up of 18 months and 86/128 placebo patients without progressive disease chose to cross over to lenalidomide. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT00114101; new patients are no longer being recruited, but some patients remain on treatment and in follow-up.FindingsThe median TTP for lenalidomide is 57·3 months (95% CI 44·2–73·3) and 28·9 months (95% CI 23·0–36·3) for placebo (hazard ratio (HR): 0·57, 95% CI 0·46–0·71, p<0·0001). The TTP benefit with lenalidomide was observed regardless of whether patients were in a complete response at time of randomisation or whether they had received thalidomide or lenalidomide induction therapy. The most common grade 3–4 adverse events were neutropenia (116 (50%) of 231 patients in the lenalidomide arm and 37 (16%) of 229 patients in the placebo arm) and thrombocytopenia (34 patients (15%) in the lenalidomide arm and 11 patients (4·8%) in the placebo arm. Eighteen haematological (7·8%) and 14 solid tumour (6·1%) SPMs have been diagnosed following randomisation and prior to disease progression in the lenalidomide arm vs. three haematological (1·3%) and nine solid tumour (3·9%) SPMs in the placebo arm. Of the placebo SPMs, three haematological and five of nine solid tumour SPMs were in the crossover subgroup.InterpretationDespite an increase in haematological adverse events and SPMs, lenalidomide maintenance therapy following ASCT significantly improves TTP and can be considered a standard of care.

Summary. The primary objective of this study was to determine the complete remission (CR) rate achieved with the FLAG (fludarabine phosphate, cytarabine and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor) regimen in patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) or de novo refractory anaemia with excess of blasts in transformation (RAEB-t). Secondary objectives were to evaluate survival and toxicity. Induction treatment consisted of between one and two courses of FLAG. Patients achieving CR received between one and two courses of consolidation treatment. Eighty-three of the 89 patients entering the study were eligible for assessment. CR rates were: 17 out of 21 (81%) in late relapse AML (Group 1), 13 out of 44 (30%) in early relapse/refractory AML (Group 2), and 10 out of 18 (56%) in de novo RAEB-t (Group 3). Thirty-four of the 40 responders (85%) achieved CR after one induction course.Median survival times were 1´4 years, 3 months and 1´6 years in Groups 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Other than myelosuppression, the FLAG regimen was not generally associated with clinically significant toxicity and was well tolerated by most patients including the elderly. The FLAG regimen offers a very effective alternative treatment for CR induction in poor prognosis adult patients with either relapsed or refractory AML or de novo RAEB-t. FLAG delivers high-dose treatment without increasing overall toxicity, an approach which is of particular value in older patients, who constitute the majority in these diseases. It is therefore an important advance in developing new treatment options for these patients.

Background. Conservative surgery (CS) and radiation therapy (RT) as an alternative to mastectomy is controversial in patients with two or more lesions in the same breast. The authors reviewed their experience with CS and RT in the management of patients with synchronous ipsilateral breast cancer (SIBC). Methods. Of 1060 patients treated with CS and RT at the authors' facilities before December 1988, 13 (1.2%) presented with SIBC. All lesions were identified macroscopically and confirmed microscopically as carcinoma. After excision, patients were treated with radiation to the breast for a median tumor bed dose of 65 Gy, and regional lymphatics were treated as clinically indicated to a median dose of 48 Gy. These cases were retrospectively reviewed. Results. As of February 1992, with a median follow‐up of 71 months, the 5‐year actuarial survival rate of the 13 patients was 81%. Three of the 13 (23%) had an ipsilateral breast recurrence, resulting in a 72‐month actuarial breast recurrence rate of 25%, compared with a rate of 12% in our singular lesion population. Two of these patients remain alive, no evidence of disease at 135 and 93 months after diagnosis. The third patient had chest wall progression and died with metastatic disease at 64 months. Invasive lobular histology and three separate lesions were identified in two of the three patients with subsequent local recurrence. Conclusions. The local recurrence rate in conservatively treated patients with SIBC is greater than that seen in patients with single lesions, but because of the small sample size, significant conclusions are not possible. Although the data are limited on this subject, these results support consideration of CS and RT as an option in the management of selected patients who favor a breast conservation management approach. Cancer 1993; 72:137–42.

Desmoid tumors occur with high frequency in individuals with Familial Adenomatous Polyposis (FAP). Because of this, individuals developing desmoid tumors may be referred for genetic risk assessment. Determining whether a person has a FAP-related desmoid tumor or a sporadic desmoid can be challenging. We sought to characterize the patients who were seen at our institution to determine if there were clinical differences in presentation between FAP-associated and sporadic desmoid tumors. We searched the Mayo Clinic-modified H-ICDA (Hospital adaptation of the International Classification of Diseases) diagnostic codes for all diagnoses of desmoid tumors in patients seen between 1976 and 1999. Charts were reviewed to determine accuracy of diagnosis, age when seen, gender, site of tumor, and presence of polyposis. A total of 454 patients (174 males and 280 females) met the search criterion. Of the 447 patients on whom all data was obtained, 70 had FAP and 377 had no evidence of FAP. The female/male ratio for FAP cases was 1.12 compared to female/male ratio of 1.71 for non-FAP cases. (P=0.17). Location of development of desmoid tumors was correlated with but not specific for distinguishing FAP from non-FAP desmoids. Abdominal desmoids comprised the majority of FAP desmoids and extra-abdominal desmoids comprised the majority of non-FAP desmoids (P<0.001) but age was not a discriminating factor. Using Bayesian analysis, we demonstrate how these findings can assist genetic professionals in their evaluation of patients with desmoid tumors by providing prior probabilities of FAP based upon clinical presentation.