Exploring multiple myeloma

Is treatment leading to better patient outcomes?

Workoutside the laboratory has an important role to play in research.

Samara BrethertonHaematologist Dr Julia Phillips from the School of Medicine & Health Sciences, University of Otago at Wellington, was keen to audit 20 years of statistics covering patients with multiple myeloma (MM).

"We wanted to find out whether MM is increasing, whether treatment is effective and if “real life” experience matched results reported in clinical trials, which often exclude patients in the poorest health,” says Dr Phillips.

A summer studentship proposal was agreed and the LBF funded the 10-week project, which was carried out by medical student Samara Bretherton.

The study confirmed similarities between MM in Wellington and other demographic studies.

“For example, the male:female ratio was similar and we found that while the number of patients diagnosed with MM had approximately doubled between 1986 and 2006, the survival rate has increased with time.

“The project also showed that patients having autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplants – in other words, their own stem cells – and those who received treatment with Thalidomide, survived much longer.”

From these findings, Samara was able to confirm that the survival of patients with MM in Wellington has improved over the past 20 years.

Samara was awarded 1st prize for the best summer student project 2006/2007 and her study was presented at the XIth International Myeloma Workshop and IVth International Workshop on Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinaemia in 2007. The findings will also be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

How will the patient benefit?
Aside from identifying effective treatments, Samara’s project provides a database for future research projects and will aid service planning for myeloma treatment in Wellington.