Vincristine in the treatment of multiple myeloma

Eight patients with multiple myeloma were treated with 13 courses of therapy with Vincristine (VCR), given alone (2 mg/7-15 days for 4-5 doses) or associated (1-2 mg) on the first day with Peptichemio (PTC, 40-60 mg/48 hours for 4-8 doses). Ten courses of VCR monochemotherapy were administered. Six of them were given with the aim of stabilizing remission states already achieved with PTC (5 courses) or cyclophosphamide (CTX) (one course). All gave successful results. Two partial remissions (PR) went into complete remission. Four courses of VCR monochemotherapy were administered to treat relapses of myeloma due to alkylating resistance and/or cytopenia. Two of them induced PR, one improved clinical conditions and reduced from 92 to 64% the bone marrow plasmocytomatous infiltrate and one was ineffective in arresting the progression of the relapse. VCR monochemotherapy has constantly improved the hematological conditions of the treated patients. The association of VCR to PTC, used in three courses, has potentiated the effectiveness of this alkylating agent in inducing remission in patients who became resistant to Melphalan and CTX late in the course of their disease. The actual PR with doses of PTC were much lower than those employed in PTC induction monochemotherapy. Our observations demonstrate that VCR is effective in multiple myeloma and suggest that it can be a useful agent for the treatment of the different clinical situations occurring during the course of the disease.