I thought you might want to look at this link my doctor recommended:
Debate Continues on Initiating Therapy for High-Risk Smoldering Myeloma
Ahhhh...what to do? Looks like I may be back on the "treat" list very soon!
Article Excerpt (Introduction):
In most malignancies, early detection and intervention are prerequisites for a possible cure. Consequently, why is the standard of care for myeloma a watch-and-wait approach, with no treatment until progression? In the absence of a consensus on the definition of highrisk smoldering multiple myeloma (HRSMM), this remains an open question.
Thus, before the opening of the official 55th Annual American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting in December 2013, two members of an international panel of myeloma experts, one from Spain and one from the United States, presented opposing arguments for the treat versus watch-and-wait approaches ...
A consensus emerged from both sides that while patients with “early myeloma or ultra-high-risk SMM require treatment,” a better definition of HR-SMM is needed, along with clinical trials that may answer the critical question of whether or not early intervention changes the natural history of the disease.
