- Patients must have histologically or cytologically confirmed multiple myeloma meeting criteria with symptomatic disease requiring treatment; patients considered to have high risk disease (defined as chromosome 13 deletion by cytogenetics; t(4;14), t(14;16) or 17p deletion by fluorescence in situ hybridization [FISH], B2-M > 5.5 g/dL, immunoglobulin A [IgA] phenotype) in first remission (>= partial remission [PR]) or patients with relapsed myeloma responding to salvage therapy (>= PR) based on the International Uniform Response Criteria are eligible