Remineralization Rate of Lytic Lesions of the Spine in Multiple Myeloma Patients Undergoing Radiation Therapy.

Retrospective cohort study. In general, Multiple Myeloma (MM) patients are treated with systemic therapy including chemotherapy. Radiation therapy can have an important supportive role in the palliative management of MM-related osteolytic lesions. Our study aims to investigate the degree of radiation-induced remineralization in MM patients to gain a better understanding of its potential impact on bone mineral density and, consequently, fracture prevention. Our primary outcome measure was percent change in bone mineral density measured in Hounsfield Units (Δ% HU) between pre- and post-radiation measurements, compared to non-targeted vertebrae. We included 119 patients with MM who underwent radiotherapy of the spine between January 2010 and June 2021 and who had a CT scan of the spine at baseline and between 3-24 months after radiation. A linear mixed effect model tested any differences in remineralization rate per month (β Analyses of CT scans yielded 565 unique vertebrae (366 targeted and 199 non-targeted vertebrae). In both targeted and non-targeted vertebrae, there was an increase in bone density per month (β Our results demonstrate that following radiation, bone density increased over time for both targeted and non-targeted vertebrae. However, no conclusive evidence was found that targeted vertebrae have a higher remineralization rate than non-targeted vertebrae in patients with MM.

Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.