This month has seen a CTC study investigating the treatment of plasmacytoma recruit its first patient.
IDRIS, a phase III trial funded by Cancer Research UK, is looking at additional treatment for solitary bone plasmacytoma (that is, a tumour formed by a collection of blood plasma cells at a single point in the skeleton) beyond the standard course of radiotherapy. Researchers think giving a patient immunotherapy (in the form of lenalidomide) and a steroid called dexamethasone might prevent the plasmacytoma from recurring or developing into myeloma (a type of cancer which starts in the bone marrow).
The study also aims to find out more about the side effects of these two additional drugs, as well as how their inclusion in treatment affects a patient’s quality of life.
Senior trial coordinator Ellice Marwood commented: ‘We are looking forward to opening the trial in more hospitals and recruiting more patients to answer the important research questions and help future patients diagnosed with solitary bone plasmacytoma.’
More details on the trial can be found
here.