Doctors have several different techniques at their disposal for diagnosing multiple myeloma and detecting bone disease. A new study, “Role of radiography, MRI and FDG-PET/CT in diagnosing, staging and therapeutical evaluation of patients with multiple myeloma,” suggests newer imaging techniques are better for diagnosis than traditional X-rays. The study, published September 18 in Annals of Hematology, examined several different imaging methods.

Reinier Raymakers, a coauthor of the study, noted better diagnosis techniques could lead to earlier treatment.

“You can prevent fractures, pain, spinal cord lesions,” he said.

The authors observed that while …

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have announced that Medicare will now cover the use of positron emission tomography, or PET scans, for myeloma patients.

PET is an imaging technique that can be used to scan the whole body for abnormal cellular function. According to the CMS decision summary, PET imaging improves both physician decision-making and the health outcomes for Medicare beneficiaries who have myeloma.

In myeloma patients, PET scans can detect lesions that might not have been seen using standard testing, or it can …

Up to 90 percent of multiple myeloma patients develop bone lesions. Lesions form when cells responsible for bone formation are either suppressed or absent and cells responsible for reabsorbing bone are overactive.

Multiple myeloma patients can experience bone destruction in any type of bone. Almost half of the patients suffer bone lesions in the spine; around one third are affected in the skull, pelvis, and ribs; and under one quarter are affected in the humeri, femora, and mandible.

Bone imaging is an important diagnostic procedure used to monitor bone disease in myeloma …

The National Oncologic PET Registry (NOPR) reported in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine that PET scanning has an impact on the intended treatment of patients with cancer in one third of all cases. The latest results show that PET has a similar impact across all of these cancer types, especially multiple myeloma.

A positron emission tomography (PET) scan is an imaging process that uses a radioactive tracer to depict the organs and tissues in a body. The PET scanner converts the energy from the tracer to a three-dimensional picture. A doctor can …