MYELOMA - RESULTS OF TREATMENT 1986-1990

Sixty - nine patients with multiple myeloma diagnosed during a five ye ar period at the Belfast City Hospital were followed until death or fo r a minimum of one year in a retrospective study of survival. Although the patients were unselected, survival data was found to be similar t o results from trials in which patient selection had occurred. Overall median survival was thirty - two months. Median survival fell with ad vancing disease and was 47, 27 and 18 months for Durie - Salmon stages I, II and III respectively. Those patients presenting with a platelet count of < 100 x 10(9)/1 had a median survival of eight months in con trast to those with a platelet count > 100 x 10(9)/1 whose median surv ival was 36 months. Patients presenting in renal failure had a shorter median survival of 28 months compared to 46 months for those with nor mal renal function.