Optimizing therapy for transplant-eligible patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma.

High-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem-cell transplantation (HDT-ASCT) is standard therapy for younger patients with multiple myeloma (MM) who are physically fit enough to undergo the treatment. Nevertheless, MM remains incurable and strategies to prevent or delay relapse after HDT-ASCT are needed. A continuous therapy approach using maintenance therapy may provide sustained control of minimal residual disease after HDT-ASCT. Alternatively, extending treatment with novel induction regimens may delay the need for HDT-ASCT. Although there is some clinical evidence to support the use of these strategies, their efficacy has not been proven definitively in clinical trials; ongoing studies should help determine their merit in transplant-eligible patients with MM.