[christophe]

Does MGUS + one bone lesion = multiple myeloma?

by christophe on Fri Sep 11, 2015 8:39 pm

I recently had an MRI spine and it shows:

an 8 millimeter enhancing discrete lesion within the T8 vertebral body, non specific but possibly related to patient's known MGUS"

Does this means I am actually progressing to multiple myeloma?

[JimNY]

Re: Does MGUS + one bone lesion = multiple myeloma?

by JimNY on Sat Sep 12, 2015 2:20 pm

Hi christophe,

I think that, before any conclusions can be drawn from the latest MRI result, your doctors will need to determine definitively that the lesion is due to your plasma cell disorder (MGUS). There are things that can show up on imaging that can look like lesions due to a plasma cell disorder, but are not.

If the lesion does turn out to be due your plasma cell disorder, but you have no other signs of the disease – no anemia, no kidney damage, no elevated calcium levels – then you could have what is known as a solitary bone plasmacytoma. This would be something that requires treat­ment, but it often is treatment with just radiation, rather than the drug treatment you typi­cally read about for multiple myeloma.

This article on the diagnosis of multiple myeloma describes criteria for solitary plasmacytomas (both bone and outside-the-bone),

SV Rajkumar, "New Criteria For The Diagnosis Of Multiple Myeloma And Related Disorders," The Myeloma Beacon, Oct 26, 2014

and this article discusses solitary bone plasmacytoma:

"Solitary Bone Plasmacytoma – What Every Patient Should Know," The Myeloma Beacon, May 4, 2012.

Good luck!