Abstract. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of survivin, an apoptosis inhibitor protein, on the efficacy of the fludarabine, vincristine, epirubicin, dexamethasone and thalidomide (FVADT) chemotherapy regime for the treatment of refractory multiple myeloma (MM). A total of 82 patients with MM were selected from the Hematology Inpatient Department at The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University (Zhengzhou, China). The initial treatment group consisted of 40 patients with MM, who received the vincristine, epirubicin and dexamethasone (VAD) chemotherapy regime. The refractory group consisted of 42 patients with refractory MM, who received the FVADT chemotherapy regime. Bone marrow biopsies were collected via marrow aspirations, and the protein expression of survivin was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. In addition, the Kaplan-Meier method was used for survival analyses. Intergroup differences in the protein expression levels of survivin were compared, and the association between survivin expression and the short-and long-term effects of FVADT chemotherapy were analyzed. The positive expression rate of survivin was significantly higher in the refractory group, as compared with the initial treatment group (P<0.05). Furthermore, the complete remission rate and the effective rate were significantly lower in the survivin-positive group, as compared with the survivin-negative group (P<0.05). The overall survival, progression free survival and 1 and 3 year survival rates of the survivin-positive group were significantly higher, as compared with the survivin-negative group (P<0.05). The results of the present study suggested that the protein expression of survivin was upregulated in refractory MM tissues, which was indicative of a poor short-and long-term efficacy for FVADT chemotherapy.