JLE

Journal de Pharmacie Clinique

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A 65 year old HIV patient with multiple myeloma Volume 24, issue 1, janvier-février-mars 2005

Authors
Service pharmacie, Centre hospitalier Schaffner, Lens, Service de pneumologie, Centre hospitalier Schaffner, Lens, Laboratoire de pharmacologie, pharmacocinétique et pharmacie clinique, Faculté des sciences pharmaceutiques et biologiques de Lille

The diagnosis of a multiple myeloma in a HIV infected patient is quite rare. Those two pathologies complicate the patient drug therapy, but the retroviral therapy seems to have an influence upon the progression of the plasmocytoma. In this case, the patient has been HIV positive since 1997, and diagnosed with a multiple myeloma in 1998. HIV infection has been immunologically and virally controlled. However opportunistic infections, drug side effects and drug interactions complicate the disease progress and several drug changes had to be made. Despite those problems and the absence of a specific treatment since 2002, the myeloma has been stabilised on a clinical, radiological and electrophoretical points of view. This case illustrates the complexity of the drug therapies of two immunosuppressive diseases. This example reminds that antiviral treatments are complicated to deal with. It is difficult to find a satisfactory compromise between the clinical efficacy and maintaining a quality of life for the patient. The positive progress of the myeloma, despite the absence of a long term and specific treatment, suggests another mechanism of action of the antiviral drugs. Those drugs might have another target than the viral enzymes and have an antitumoral activity.