[Nanette]

Types of "remission"

by Nanette on Fri Apr 02, 2010 4:37 pm

Hi gang- I don't expect to hear anything back about this until after the holiday, but.....

A nurse at the Cancer Center called a couple of weeks ago to say that Dominic was "in remission", and that our doctor would discuss "what type of remission" he is in.

I did some snooping around and found a chart with "Response Criteria" at the bottom of this PDF file:

http://www.mw-delhi09.com/spargoDocs/Consensuspanelone.pdf

They show criteria for "Complete Response", "Very Good Partial", "Partial", "Stringent", etc. Do you suppose this is what she was referring to when mentioning "different kinds" of remission?

Thanks in advance. Have a wonderful Easter weekend!

[Dr. Bijay Nair]

Re: Types of "remission"

by Dr. Bijay Nair on Tue Apr 06, 2010 9:24 am

Yes. Based on serum & urine protein electrophoresis, free light chain assay and bone marrow exam, we can define response/ remission status in myeloma. The pdf file you referred is a good resource and Table 1 in it summarizes the current definitions.

At our institution, we have found it useful to also do MRI and PET-CT scan to assess bone lesions, which provides added information to the above tests in determining remission status. This is currently not in the national guidelines, so most other centers do not perform this as part of their evaluation for myeloma.

[Nanette]

Re: Types of "remission"

by Nanette on Tue Apr 06, 2010 12:29 pm

Thank you for your most thoughtful reply, Dr. Nair. It was kind of you to take the time to post this.