This year’s American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting, which is being held in Atlanta, began yesterday and goes through Tuesday.

Today’s myeloma-related presentations began this afternoon with three sessions of oral presentations.  Two of the sessions focused on results from clin­i­cal trials, most of which studied drugs that are still under devel­op­ment as poten­tial treat­ments for multiple myeloma.  The third session, which focused on the biology of myeloma, ran simultaneously with one of the sessions about clin­i­cal trial results. …

Yesterday was the first day of research presentations at this year’s American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting, which is being held in Atlanta.

Research findings related to multiple myeloma was presented in three different sessions during the day.

Two of the sessions were actually the same general educational session about multiple myeloma, repeated at two different times during the day. The Beacon will cover the presentations given during those sessions in a separate daily update.

The key myeloma-related research …

Today marks the first day of presentations and poster sessions at the 2012 American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting.

The meeting, which is being held in Atlanta this year, will provide the multiple myeloma community with a veritable deluge of new research about existing myeloma treatments as well as therapies that are still under development.

As was the case with previous ASH annual meetings, The Myeloma Beacon will be covering this year’s meeting in detail.  Beacon readers can expect …

Results from a recent retrospective study indicate that multiple myeloma patients who receive stem cell transplants may be at greater risk than the general population of developing atrial fibrillation, the most common type of irregular heartbeat.

The researchers also found that myeloma patients with kidney failure, heart failure, or high blood pressure were at the greatest risk of developing atrial fibrillation after a stem cell transplant.

The researchers suggest that selecting appropriate patients for stem cell transplantation, correcting risk factors, …

Living with multiple myeloma isn’t easy for a number of reasons.  Besides having cancer and dealing with the uncertainty around it, there are hours spent in waiting rooms, along with countless blood draws, tests, and chemotherapy side effects.

But for me, the most difficult part of our new normal is “the switch.”

One minute everything seems fine.  Then without warning, someone or something “flips the switch.”  Suddenly we’re in pain, battling an infection, hospitalized, or standing nose-to-nose with our own …

While I am not so much a creature of habit, my Wednesday afternoon activities over the last three years have been pretty much chiseled in stone.

At around noon on a typical Wednesday, I drop everything that I’m doing, jump into my car, drive across the Kimberling City Bridge that sits perched 30 feet above beautiful Table Rock Lake, and then wind my way through the rolling Ozark hills and picturesque hollows toward the nationally known tourist and entertainment small …

Results of a recent small Australian study suggest that multiple myeloma patients who relapse within 12 months of their first transplant may benefit from a second transplant with melphalan plus Velcade as the intensive therapy immediately prior to their second transplant.

Based on these findings, the investigators propose that this regimen be further explored in the context of back-to-back stem cell transplants in patients who are at risk for an early relapse.

The study investigators note, however, that their study …