All patients also received chemotherapy in conjunction with high cut-off hemodialysis. Seventy-four percent of patients received Velcade-based regimens.
Of the 17 patients who completed treatment, 6 percent achieved complete kidney recovery, 29 percent achieved partial kidney recovery, and 47 percent achieved minor kidney recovery. Seventy-four percent of patients sustained kidney recovery. The median time from the start of therapy until the time that patients no longer required hemodialysis was 15 days.
The median time to free light chain reduction below 500 mg/L was 13 days with a median of six sessions of high cut-off hemodialysis. The time to free light chain reduction below 500 mg/L was significantly shorter for patients who achieved kidney recovery than patients who did not achieve kidney recovery (12 days versus 23 days).
The researchers found that the amount of time a patient had acute kidney injury prior to starting therapy was a predictor of kidney recovery. Patients who started therapy sooner were more likely to achieve kidney recovery than those who started therapy later. The median duration of acute kidney injury was 2 days for those who achieved kidney recovery and 33 days for those who did not achieve kidney recovery.
After chemotherapy, 35 percent of patients achieved a partial response and 35 percent had stable disease.
Two early deaths occurred as a result of septic shock and progressive disease.
For more information, please see the article in the Annals of Hematology (abstract) or the EuLITE clinical trial description.