Multiple myeloma physicians and researchers are gathering at the 17^th Congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA) to share the latest findings in the field. The meeting started today in Amsterdam and will run through Sunday, June 17.

The Myeloma Beacon will report on the most important myeloma-related findings from the meeting over the next couple of weeks.

The research presented at the meeting will cover all areas of hematology, which is the study of blood, blood-forming organs, and blood-related diseases, including multiple myeloma.

Today physicians and researchers have the opportunity to attend scientific working groups to discuss specific challenges and advances in their respective fields.

The myeloma scientific working group will focus on the treatment of newly diagnosed as well as relapsed and refractory myeloma patients. Topics to be discussed include evolving treatment paradigms in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, the prognostic relevance of PET/CT scans for newly diagnosed myeloma, the characterization of relapsed and refractory (resistant) myeloma, and the treatment of bone disease in multiple myeloma.

Education sessions will be held during the day tomorrow. These sessions will give practicing physicians an opportunity to maintain and develop professional knowledge and skills in their fields.

During the myeloma education session, myeloma experts will speak about the biological characterization of multiple myeloma, old and new drug treatments, and the role of transplantation in the era of novel agents. A session focused on stem cell transplantation will address topics such as the clinical aspects of donor lymphocyte infusions and reconstitution of t-cells, a type of white blood cell, after stem cell transplantation.

On Saturday, the biology of multiple myeloma will be discussed in an early morning oral presentation session. In the afternoon, myeloma experts will talk about translational research in multiple myeloma.

Also on Saturday, a presentation about multiple myeloma will be given at the Presidential Symposium, a session highlighting abstracts considered to be among the strongest submitted to the meeting. Dr. Niccolo Bolli from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom will present results from a study showing that multiple myeloma is a heterogeneous disease at diagnosis and that chromosomal changes may occur at the time of disease progression (abstract ^[1]). The study results are based on the genome sequencing of plasma cells from 68 multiple myeloma patients.

On Sunday, the myeloma portion of the meeting will end with a session on new treatments under development for multiple myeloma. The presentations will include the latest findings on elotuzumab ^[2], daratumumab ^[3], and MLN9708 ^[4] (ixazomib ^[5]). These findings were also presented at the recent American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Chicago.

In addition, attendees will have the opportunity to view and discuss posters about the latest myeloma research during dedicated myeloma poster sessions to be held Friday through Sunday.

For more information on the 17^th Congress of EHA, including presentation abstracts and attendance information, please see the EHA meeting ^[6] website.