HIGH-DOSE MELPHALAN CHEMOTHERAPY AND TOTAL BODY RADIATION WITH PERIPHERAL BLOOD STEM-CELL RECONSTITUTION FOR PATIENTS WITH RELAPSING MULTIPLE MYELOMA

OBJECTIVES: I. Assess bone marrow reconstitution and peripheral blood cell counts of patients with multiple myeloma treated with high-dose melphalan (L-PAM) and total-body irradiation (TBI) followed by peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) rescue. II. Assess the efficacy of intravenous L-PAM and TBI for treatment of relapsing/refractory myeloma. III. Assess the tolerability and toxicity of this regimen in patients with relapsing multiple myeloma. IV. Assess response rate and survival of relapsing/refractory patients treated with this regimen.

OUTLINE: Prior to entry, patients will have received 3 monthly courses of standard VAD followed by PBSC collection on Regimen A; those who responded to VAD continue standard VAD to best response and upon relapse (on or off therapy) proceed to Regimen B. Patients with no response to 3 courses of VAD and those with no response to an alkylating-based regimen proceed immediately to Regimen B following PBSC collection. The following acronyms are used: CTX Cyclophosphamide, NSC-26271 G-CSF Granulocyte Colony Stimulating Factor (Amgen), NSC-614629 L-PAM Melphalan, NSC-8806 PBSC Peripheral Blood Stem Cells VAD Vincristine/Doxorubicin/Dexamethasone TBI Total Body Irradiation Regimen A: Stem Cell Mobilization/Harvest. CTX; G-CSF. Regimen B: Single-Agent Myeloablative Chemoradiotherapy with Stem Cell Rescue. L-PAM; TBI (Co60 or linear accelerators of 4 MV or greater); with PBSC.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: If 9 or fewer or 20 or more responses are seen in the first 50 patients treated, the study will be discontinued.