Throughout 2011, The Myeloma Beacon published many articles that serve as helpful resources for multiple myeloma patients and others interested in myeloma.

These articles included interviews with, columns written by, and summaries of treatment guidelines from leading myeloma experts.  They also included articles providing helpful information about rare types of myeloma and exciting new treatment options that are being studied in clinical trials.

All these articles were published in addition to the Beacon's coverage of the latest myeloma-related news and research results, and in addition to the Beacon's columns written by myeloma patients and caregivers.

As a service to its readers, The Myeloma Beacon has compiled a list of the resource articles Beacon readers found most interesting during 2011.

Physician Interview

Dr. Kenneth Anderson

Current And Future Approaches To Treating  Myeloma – In an interview with The Myeloma Beacon, Dr. Kenneth Anderson from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute spoke about his approach to treating multiple myeloma patients.  He also spoke about the future of myeloma treatment, including the possibility of a cure for myeloma. The interview was published as a two-part series.

Physician Columns

Dr. S. Vincent Rajkumar

Promising New Drugs For Myeloma: Will The Future Come Soon Enough? – In one of his regular columns for The Myeloma Beacon, Dr. Rajkumar answered the following questions about myeloma therapies that are currently being developed: What are the most promising potential new drugs that could outsmart myeloma cells? Will they work in patients who have failed other therapies? Will they have a reasonable safety profile?  Will a future filled with many active treatments and options happen soon enough?

The Role Of Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation In Multiple Myeloma – In a different column, Dr. Rajkumar answered the following questions about autologous transplants (that is, a transplant using a patient’s own stem cells):  What is the current role of stem cell transplantation in myeloma therapy? Should I get a transplant? Am I too old for a transplant? Is it better to do one now, or can I wait? One or two transplants? Two back to back, or one now and one later?

Dr. David Vesole

Treating Multiple Myeloma Patients: Optimizing Response While Minimizing Side Effects – Dr. Vesole’s column discusses safer treatment approaches for Velcade (bortezomib) and Revlimid (lenalidomide), the two most commonly used novel agents for the treatment of myeloma.  He wrote that modifications to prior treatment methods can maintain excellent responses and improve survival while decreasing side effects, thereby improving quality of life.

Dr. David Roodman

Recent Advances In The Treatment Of Myeloma Bone Disease – Up to 80 percent of multiple myeloma patients having bone disease.  In his column, Dr. Roodman discussed the latest research about treating myeloma bone disease.  He included a discussion of the promising treatments for bone disease that are under clinical development.

Dr. Bijay Nair

Nonsecretory Multiple Myeloma – Since less than 5 percent of all patients with multiple myeloma have nonsecretory myeloma, these patients often have a hard time finding information about their type of myeloma.  In his column, Dr. Nair discussed the basics of nonsecretory myeloma, how patients with this type of myeloma are diagnosed, followed, and treated, what the prognosis is for these patients, and how secretory myeloma can become nonsecretory.

Guidelines And Reviews Published By Myeloma Experts

Experts Review Current And Future Research Into New Multiple Myeloma Treatments – Earlier this year, an international group of myeloma experts published a review of ongoing research into new myeloma treatments.  This review not only described a wide range of potential new myeloma treatments, but also included the experts’ thoughts on where research into new treatments should go in the future.

Spanish Experts Ask: What Is The Path To A Cure For Myeloma? – In an editorial, Spanish myeloma experts Dr. Jesús San-Miguel and Dr. Maria-Victoria Mateos reviewed the progress that has been made in the treatment of multiple myeloma.  They also proposed several actions they believed will bring the medical community closer to a cure for myeloma, including achieving and maintaining the best possible response early in the treatment of the disease, using advanced tools to evaluate and optimize treatment efficacy, and seeking an appropriate balance between efficacy and the side effects of treatment.

Experts Develop Guidelines For Treating Anemia In Multiple Myeloma Patients (IMW 2011) – A group of leading myeloma specialists, known as the International Myeloma Working Group, collaborated to develop guidelines for the proper management of anemia (low red blood cell counts) in multiple myeloma patients. The group recommended therapy with red blood cell-stimulating agents for anemic myeloma patients receiving chemotherapy in order to improve quality of life and to reduce the need for red blood cell transfusions. They further recommended the use of iron supplements to improve the efficiency of red blood cell-stimulating agents.

Helpful Information For Myeloma Patients

Subcutaneous Velcade – Velcade is currently approved to be used intravenously for the treatment of multiple myeloma.  However, many multiple myeloma patients who take intravenous Velcade experience peripheral neuropathy, a condition characterized by pain and tingling in the extremities due to nerve damage.  Recent studies have shown that administering Velcade subcutaneously may reduce the risk of peripheral neuropathy.  This article summarizes those study results, explains the current usage of subcutaneous Velcade in the United States and in Europe, and describes one myeloma patient’s experience with subcutaneous Velcade.

Extramedullary Myeloma – During the course of their disease, multiple myeloma patients some­times develop what physicians call “extra­medullary disease,” “extra­medullary plasmacytomas,” or “extra­medullary myeloma.”  All of these names refer to myeloma that develops outside of the bone marrow.  This article provides a detailed introduction to extramedullary myeloma, including what it is, how it is diagnosed, and how it is treated.

New Advances In Myeloma Vaccines – This series of articles about emerging vaccines for multiple myeloma describes the concept of a myeloma vaccine, the various types of vaccines that are currently under development for myeloma, vaccines for which clinical trials have been completed, ongoing vaccine research, and a patient’s experience participating in a myeloma vaccine clinical trial.

The Myeloma Beacon also recently published a compilation of the top Myeloma Beacon news articles from 2011 (see the related Beacon article).