Long-term survival in a case of high-risk type IgD myeloma; a possibility of effectiveness of interferon-alpha and erythropoietin.

The prognosis of patients with IgD myeloma is poorest among all types of multiple myeloma. We report a case of a patient with IgD myeloma who survived for an extraordinarily long period post-diagnosis (65 months). According to the new risk grouping of IgD myeloma (Shimamoto Y. et al., Eur. J. Haematol. 47, 262 (1991), he was classified as being in the high-risk group, with a zero percent expected 5-yr survival. Nevertheless, he survived for 65 months. We discuss the usefulness of interferon-alpha and erythropoietin for the treatment of IgD myeloma.