Significant improvements in donor stem cell trans­planta­tion have been made in recent years. As a result, donor trans­planta­tion – a procedure during which a patient receives stem cells from a healthy donor – has become safer and typically more successful for patients.

The majority of patients undergoing donor stem cell trans­planta­tion receive stem cells from unrelated donors. In these cases, a close match between donor and recipient tissue types is known to play an important important role in trans­plant outcomes. …

Results from a small Australian study provide new evidence that the immune systems of myeloma patients may play an important role in why some patients survive much longer than others.

In particular, the Australian researchers found that myeloma patients who live for more than 10 years after diagnosis have more robust immune function as compared to other myeloma patients.

Certain killer immune cells were more common, and divided more read­i­ly, in long-term myeloma survivors than in patients with shorter sur­vival.

The …

Each year, more and more multiple myeloma patients must consider an issue which, in years past, was not even viewed as relevant to people with myeloma.

That issue is pregnancy.

It is true that the co-occurrence of multiple myeloma and pregnancy re­mains relatively rare, given that myeloma typically affects older in­di­vid­u­als.  The median age at myeloma diagnosis is 69 years, and only 4 percent of my­e­lo­ma cases occur in in­di­vid­u­als younger than 45 years.

Likewise, only about 30 cases of …

An international panel of multiple myeloma experts, known as the Inter­national Myeloma Working Group (IMWG), recently released a consen­sus statement on risk stratification for patients with multiple myeloma.

Risk stratification refers to the classification of patients into different cate­gories based on likely disease outcome.

The new IMWG risk stratification, for example, has three risk categories: low-risk, standard-risk, and high-risk.

In the new system, determination of a patient's risk classification is based on three factors: a patient's disease stage according to …

Results from a recent French study based on data from clinical practice indicate that vitamin K antagonists and low-molecular weight heparin are more effective than aspirin in preventing clots during myeloma treatment with the immuno­modu­la­tory drugs thalidomide or Revlimid.

Specifically, 7 percent of patients receiving aspirin developed blood clots, compared to 3 percent of patients receiving low-molecular weight heparin and 0 percent receiving a vitamin K antagonist such as warfarin (Coumadin).

Interestingly, the rate of blood clot formation was lowest …

A recent Greek study looks at the efficacy and safety of Revlimid plus dexa­metha­sone for re­lapsed and refractory multiple myeloma patients in ‘the real world’ -- that is, in patients being treated in standard clin­i­cal practice rather than clin­i­cal trials.

The study's findings con­firm that Revlimid (lena­lido­mide) plus dexa­metha­sone (Decadron) is effective and safe in day-to-day use among re­lapsed myeloma patients.

The majority of the patients in the study (77 per­cent) responded to treat­ment with Revlimid and dexa­metha­sone, …

Alcohol Consumption May Reduce Risk Of Developing Myeloma – Results from a recent retrospective study suggest that alcohol consumption may be associ­ated with a reduced risk of multiple myeloma. The researchers analyzed data from 1,567 myeloma patients and 7,296 healthy individuals from a number of treatment centers across the world that are part of the International Multiple Myeloma Consortium. Their findings show that people who ever drank alcohol had a lower risk of multiple myeloma compared to those who never …