Dr. Braunstein on the Utility of Maintenance Therapy in Multiple Myeloma

Marc J. Braunstein, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at NYU Long Island School of Medicine; course co-director of the Hematology-Oncology System and co-director of the Autologous Stem Cell Transplant Program, NYU Winthrop Hospital of NYU Langone Health’s Perlmutter Cancer Center, discusses the utility of maintenance therapy in patients with multiple myeloma.

​In both prospective studies and meta-analyses, maintenance therapy has demonstrated an overall survival benefit in patients with multiple myeloma, particularly after autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT), says Braunstein.

Maintenance therapy can target the multiple myeloma clone over time with ​reduced-dose therapies, explains Braunstein. Implementing active surveillance throughout treatment can identify resistant clones.

Multiple myeloma remains an incurable disease because patients have multiple non-identical plasma cell clones ​at diagnosis. Moreover, some of these clones may persist in the bone marrow microenvironment following ASCT, Braunstein concludes.