Clinical observation on "Bushen Huoxue Method" in the prevention of peripheral neuropathy induced by bortezomib for multiple myeloma patient

Objective To observe the different incidence of peripheral neuropathy(PN) after bortezomib treatment of patients with multiple myeloma(MM), and to investigate the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine compound for "Bushen Huoxue Method" in preventing PN caused by bortezomib. Methods A total of 40 patients with primary MM in our hospital from June 2015 to December 2017 were screened as treatment group. Bortezomib-based chemotherapy was used, and the Chinese medicine compound of "Bushen Huoxue Method" was added. At the same time, 42 patients with simple chemotherapy were observed as control group. After 6 cycles of treatment, the incidence of peripheral neuropathy and the overall efficacy were observed. Results ①After 6 cycles of treatment, 9 cases(22.5%) of grade 1-2 PN occurred in the treatment group, significantly lower than 42.8% in the control group. At the same time, the total incidence of PN was 27.5% in the treatment group and 57.1% in the control group, with statistically significant difference(P=0.007). ②After 6 cycles of treatment, there were 6 CR cases, 20 VGPR cases and 0 PR cases in the treatment group. The total effective rate of the treatment group and the control group were 90% and 69%, respectively, with statistically significant difference(P=0.019). Conclusion The traditional Chinese medicine compound for "Bushen Huoxue Method" can significantly reduce the incidence of PN caused by bortezomib and improve the efficacy of bortezomib in the treatment of MM.