The Prognostic Role of Prothrombin Time and Activated Partial Thromboplastin Time in Patients with Newly Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma

Purpose. To evaluate the prognostic role of prothrombin time (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) for newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM). Methods. We retrospectively analyzed 354 patients with newly diagnosed MM who received primary treatment in our center. The propensity score matching technique was used to reduce the bias between groups. Results. Among 354 patients, lengthened PT or APTT was observed in 154 (43.5%) patients and 200 (56.5%) patients had normal PT and APTT. Patients with lengthened PT or APTT had significantly shorter median overall survival (OS) (37.5 vs. 73.8 months, p<0.001) and progression-free survival (PFS) (23.1 vs. 31.6 months, p=0.001) than those with normal PT and APTT. Univariate Cox proportional hazards regression analyses showed that lengthened PT or APTT was associated with shorter OS (HR=2.100, 95% CI: 1.525-2.893, p<0.001). Lengthened PT or APTT was also a poor prognostic factor for OS (HR=3.183, 95% CI: 1.803-5.617, p<0.001) in multivariable analyses. The poor effect of lengthened PT or APTT on PFS was confirmed in univariate analysis (HR=1.715, 95% CI: 1.244-2.365, p=0.001), but it had no impact on PFS in multivariate analysis (p=0.197). In the propensity score matching analysis, 154 patients, 77 in each group, were identified. Among 154 matched patients, the OS of patients with lengthened PT or APTT was shorter (38.4 vs. 51.0 months, p=0.030), but PFS was similar (29.0 vs. 35.0 months, p=0.248). Conclusion. These results demonstrated that lengthened PT or APTT was an independent poor prognostic factor for patients with newly diagnosed MM.