Husband has been diagnosed with Stage 1 multiple myeloma, but 2 bone marrow biopsies have come back negative. Is this a rare finding, or is this something common?
He is scheduled for a stem cell transplant in January, but the more I read the more I become confused.
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Re: Myeloma diagnosis with negative bone marrow biopsies
Jillpra,
I think you are new to the forum, right? If so, welcome! A lot of folks on this forum are happy to help you and your husband.
Let me comment on the bone marrow biopsy and allow me to ask a couple of questions.
First, a bone marrow biopsy can sometimes be hit and miss with multiple myeloma. The disease is not evenly distributed throughout one's skeleton, so sometimes a bone marrow biopsy can come up negative for multiple myeloma, even though it may be present elsewhere in one's bone marrow.
1. Where are you located in the world and is your husband under the care of a doctor that specializes specifically in multiple myeloma?
2. What specific symptoms have caused the doctor to label your husband as having symptomatic multiple myeloma that would require a transplant? Typically, this would mean meeting one of the CRAB criteria in the following document (see page 5), or a free light chain ratio of > 100, or the presence or more than one skeletal focal lesion > 5mm in size.
http://myeloma.org/pdfs/Patient_Handbook_2013.pdf
3. What is his M-spike (also known as monoclonal protein, paraprotein, M-protein) from his serum protein electrophoresis (SPEP) lab?
4. What are his lambda and kappa free light chain values?
Please kindly be sure to include units of measure (mg/dL, etc) and the normal range values from the lab reports when you respond. If you don't have these lab values, you can ask the doctor for copies of all the labwork.
I think you are new to the forum, right? If so, welcome! A lot of folks on this forum are happy to help you and your husband.
Let me comment on the bone marrow biopsy and allow me to ask a couple of questions.
First, a bone marrow biopsy can sometimes be hit and miss with multiple myeloma. The disease is not evenly distributed throughout one's skeleton, so sometimes a bone marrow biopsy can come up negative for multiple myeloma, even though it may be present elsewhere in one's bone marrow.
1. Where are you located in the world and is your husband under the care of a doctor that specializes specifically in multiple myeloma?
2. What specific symptoms have caused the doctor to label your husband as having symptomatic multiple myeloma that would require a transplant? Typically, this would mean meeting one of the CRAB criteria in the following document (see page 5), or a free light chain ratio of > 100, or the presence or more than one skeletal focal lesion > 5mm in size.
http://myeloma.org/pdfs/Patient_Handbook_2013.pdf
3. What is his M-spike (also known as monoclonal protein, paraprotein, M-protein) from his serum protein electrophoresis (SPEP) lab?
4. What are his lambda and kappa free light chain values?
Please kindly be sure to include units of measure (mg/dL, etc) and the normal range values from the lab reports when you respond. If you don't have these lab values, you can ask the doctor for copies of all the labwork.
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Multibilly - Name: Multibilly
- Who do you know with myeloma?: Me
- When were you/they diagnosed?: Smoldering, Nov, 2012
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• Page 1 of 1