Combination Chemotherapy With or Without Thalidomide in Treating Patients With Multiple Myeloma
Status:
Unknown status
Trial end date:
1969-12-31
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop cancer cells from dividing
so they stop growing or die. Thalidomide may stop the growth of cancer cells by stopping
blood flow to the cancer. Peripheral blood stem cell transplant using stem cells from the
patient or a donor may be able to replace immune cells that were destroyed by chemotherapy
used to kill cancer cells. The donated stem cells may also help destroy any remaining cancer
cells (graft-versus-tumor effect). It is not yet known whether chemotherapy followed by
peripheral blood stem cell transplant is more effective with or without thalidomide in
treating multiple myeloma.
PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying giving combination chemotherapy with
thalidomide to see how well it works compared with giving combination chemotherapy without
thalidomide in treating patients with multiple myeloma.