[princess]

Decreased M Spike But Myeloma Still Spreading?

by princess on Tue Jun 15, 2010 8:54 pm

My husbands M spike went from 2.4 to .14 in several months. He has been off chemo for about 6 weeks but still had excruciating back pain. After an MRI today we were told the myelome has now affected 3 more vertebrae. Can this be possible in spite of the almost nil m spike?. We are just totally blown away.

[Caro]

Re: Decreased M Spike But Myeloma Still Spreading?

by Caro on Sun Jun 20, 2010 1:30 pm

Hi Princess,

My partner was told to be in CR since Feb. 2008. Any labs - blood counts, IG's, light-chains, were and are totally normal. In July 09 he had a swelling at the cheekbone and it hurt, so he had a CT. It showed a pathologic fracture of the cheekbone and a ?? weak part ?? manifestation of the multiple myeloma, also at his sacrum. MRI showed further manifestations in the thighbones. In all that time all blood counts were in good order, nothing significant for the multiple myeloma.
Mid of Feb.2010 MRI showed new multiple myeloma manifestations inside the pelvic bones, ischium etc.
Prof. Einsele, a German multiple myeloma specialist, guesses his Myelom became non-secretory. Maybe it is similar with your husband.

Kind regards also to your husband from Germany

Caro

[Gina]

Re: Decreased M Spike But Myeloma Still Spreading?

by Gina on Sun Jun 20, 2010 9:40 pm

Hi. I was diagnosed with myeloma last November and never had a spike in my M protein. The diagnosis was made mainly by MRI. I had several tumors in my sacral area, one in my humerus, and one on my T-11 vertebra, which caused a compression fracture. I had "lesions" on most of my other bones. After further blood tests, they found that one of the light chains was high. My doctors have been monitoring these light chains as a way to monitor the regression of the disease. Personally, I put more faith in the MRI's at this point.