B. RATIONALE: Between 15 and 20% of myeloma patients exhibit a t(4;14), which results in translocation of the receptor tyrosine kinase (TK) fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3) from chromosome 4 to the Immunoglobulin H (IgH) locus. The presence of a t(4;14) appears to confer an extremely poor prognosis. Patients with this abnormality do not experience prolonged remissions after a single autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) using high-dose melphalan, and the optimal therapy of this group has not yet been defined. Specifically, data from Princess Margaret Hospital and the Mayo Clinic both indicate that the median progression-free survival (PFS) is only about 8 months and overall survival 18-22 months after ASCT. Unpublished data from the French Francophone Myeloma Intergroup (IFM) studies suggest that tandem transplants may improve these results modestly, but the outcome is still inferior compared with other cytogenetic subgroups.