Active clinical trials for "Neoplasms, Plasma Cell"

RATIONALE: Antibiotic therapy may prevent the development of infection in patients with hematologic cancer and the persistent fever caused by a low white blood cell count. It is not yet known which regimen of antibiotics is most effective in preventing infection in these patients. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to study the effectiveness of piperacillin-tazobactam with or without vancomycin in reducing fever in patients who have leukemia, lymphoma, or Hodgkin's disease.

Myeloma is the second most common type of blood cancer in the United States. Myeloma most commonly affects older adults. While some younger individuals do get myeloma, the average age when people are first diagnosed with myeloma is around 69 to 70. Along with having a higher risk for myeloma, older adults have an increased chance of developing other health problems or issues. However, not everyone ages in the same way. Some older adults experience major changes in health or degree of independence at relatively younger ages, while others remain quite healthy for many years. The specific issues that develop with age can also vary from person to person. One older adult may face difficulties with vision or hearing, while another may develop memory problems. Historically, cancer doctors have not done a very good job identifying these non-cancer issues. As a result, research has focused on better ways to systematically pick up on issues that may impact cancer outcomes or quality of life. The outgrowth of this research is assessments and questionnaires referred to as "comprehensive geriatric assessments," which evaluate the health and functionality of older adults thoroughly but efficiently. In both myeloma and other types of cancer, problems identified through geriatric assessments have been shown to predict how likely people are to develop side effects of cancer treatment and predict how long people are likely to live with cancer. Prior research has not addressed how best to help with the issues picked up through a geriatric assessment among patients undergoing treatment for myeloma, although a number of effective interventions have been shown to benefit older adults with similar problems in other settings. Therefore, the current study will test a strategy of systematically screening older adults undergoing myeloma treatment for geriatric-assessment-related deficits and referring participants to appropriate services and resources. The geriatric assessment in this study includes tests of mobility, memory, vision, hearing, and nutrition as well as questions about symptoms and social support. Individuals who have deficits in one of these areas will be referred to relevant services and resources such as physical therapy, a pharmacist, or the cancer center support program. They will then repeat the same assessment three months later, and the results will be compared to their original assessment to see if the deficit has improved, with particular attention to mobility and social support.

The study is a randomized controlled trial to develop and evaluate a coordinated financial navigation program at the Abramson Cancer Center (ACC) for patients with multiple myeloma and identify barriers to its broader implementation.

There is no study hypothesis. The purpose of this study is to see if the Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13), when administered before and early after an autologous peripheral stem cell transplant will induce an immune response.

This research study is being done to see if combining the investigational chemotherapy drug, MEDI-551 with the known anti-myeloma drugs, Lenalidomide and Dexamethasone will reduce your myeloma cancer stem cells.

Eltrombopag may improve the cell collection available for Autologous Stem Cell Transplant(ASCT). The overall goal is to determine if adding Eltrombopag to the standard ASCT will increase the number of blood cells collected and reduce the number of times blood needs to be collected. This study will also determine the highest dose of Eltrombopag that can be used without causing serious side effects.

RATIONALE: Growth factors, such as palifermin, may prevent chronic graft-versus-host disease caused by donor stem cell transplant. PURPOSE: This randomized clinical trial studies palifermin in preventing chronic graft-versus-host disease in patients who have undergone donor stem cell transplant for hematologic cancer

Oral and intestinal mucositis are major risk factors for the occurrence of fever during neutropenia and bloodstream infections after intensive chemo- and radiotherapy. These complications often require dose reductions or cause delay of treatment, and thereby interfere with optimal anticancer treatment. Currently, there are no effective strategies to prevent or treat mucositis and the related complications. The pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1β (IL-1β) has shown pivotal in the pathogenesis of mucositis and recently, it has been established in murine models that IL-1 inhibition significantly ameliorates chemotherapy-induced intestinal mucositis. In this phase IIa study the safety, maximum tolerated dose and efficacy of anakinra, a recombinant human IL-1 receptor antagonist, will be determined in adult patients with multiple myeloma who receive high-dose melphalan (HDM) in the preparation for an autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (ASCT) and are at high risk for experiencing mucositis and fever during neutropenia (FN). After establishing the optimal dose, a pivotal double-blind randomized placebo-controlled multicenter phase IIb trial will be planned to establish efficacy.

RATIONALE: Visiting patients at home to teach them about self care after a stem cell transplant may be more effective than standard therapy in improving quality of life. PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying home visits to see how well they work compared with standard therapy in treating patients undergoing donor stem cell transplant for hematologic cancer.

RATIONALE: Giving low doses of chemotherapy, monoclonal antibodies, and radiation therapy before a donor peripheral blood stem cell transplant helps stop the growth of cancer cells. It may also stop the patient's immune system from rejecting the donor's stem cells. The donated stem cells may replace the patient's immune cells and help destroy any remaining cancer cells (graft-versus-tumor effect). Sometimes the transplanted cells from a donor can also make an immune response against the body's normal cells. Giving tacrolimus, sirolimus, and antithymocyte globulin before and after transplant may stop this from happening. PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying the side effects of giving sirolimus together with tacrolimus and antithymocyte globulin and to see how well it works in preventing graft-versus-host disease in patients with hematologic cancer who are undergoing donor stem cell transplant.