Dr. Braunstein on Management Strategies 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 management strategies in multiple myeloma.

There is an art to managing multiple myeloma, says Braunstein. As such, patients are best served by experienced clinicians who are comfortable managing a host of different myeloma characteristics and are able to thoroughly explain available treatment options, Braunstein explains.

Notably, a patient’s fitness level plays a critical role in the treatment selection process, Braunstein says. Although fitness and performance status are not novel considerations in oncology, in multiple myeloma, data now support the use of frailty scores, which allows for a more comprehensive patient assessment. Moreover, this metric can assist in determining the role of autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT), says Braunstein. In the past few years, several studies have compared up-front ASCT with standard therapies in transplant-eligible patients. Notably, patients appear to derive better outcomes with consolidative ASCT, Braunstein concludes.