Results of a recent British study in­di­cate that the rel­a­tive­ importance of factors affecting sur­vival in multiple myeloma patients changes with patient age.

In particular, the re­searchers found that the older a patient is at diag­nosis, the more their sur­vival is affected by their general health and by how ad­vanced their multiple myeloma is at diag­nosis.

In contrast, the impact of high-risk chromosomal ab­nor­mal­i­ties on sur­vival de­creases with patient age.

The study findings are based on an analysis of data for almost 4,000 newly diag­nosed multiple myeloma patients who par­tic­i­pated in the …

A recent Spanish study adds important findings to the growing literature about the measurement and significance of minimal residual disease in multiple myeloma.

Myeloma patients are said to have minimal residual disease if, after having responded well to treatment, they nevertheless continue to have myeloma cells in their bodies.

In their study, the Spanish researchers used a sensitive new technique known as deep sequencing to conduct minimal residual disease testing. They used the technique to test for residual disease in bone marrow samples from myeloma patients who had completed their first line …

A group of researchers in India published a study recently that had me jump to two conclusions.

Their research followed 170 autologous stem cell transplant patients over the years, starting around 1990, to see how these multiple myeloma patients fared.

There is, of course, good news and bad news.

The first takeway seems to be that you can make a case that things are getting better.

The research adds to the body of knowledge indicating that novel agents are leading to better response rates and increased overall survival for those who …

Indian researchers recently identified several factors linked to improved survival among multiple myeloma patients who have undergone stem cell transplantation.

These factors included albumin levels at diagnosis and the achievement of a response – particularly a complete response – after transplantation.

Patients who achieved a complete response after transplantation, for example, had a median overall survival of 17 years.

The use of novel agents as initial treatment was also associated with improved overall survival.

Based on their findings, the study investigators recommend using initial therapy prior to transplantation that aims to achieve the highest …

Results from a recent Italian study confirm that smoldering myeloma patients with at least 60 percent of the cells in their bone marrow being plasma cells are 5.6 times more likely than others to progress to symptomatic multiple myeloma.

In addition, the findings indicate that bone marrow aspiration may be a better tool than bone marrow biopsy for predicting rapid progression from smoldering to active myeloma.

The study investigators suggest that smoldering myeloma patients with at least 60 percent plasma cells should be treated soon after diagnosis.

However, Dr. Ola Landgren from …

A recent study demonstrated that it is possible to identify multiple myeloma patients with a poor prognosis, based on the presence of rapidly dividing, or proliferating, cancerous cells. Classifying rapidly dividing myeloma cells as a prognostic factor may help patients receive more targeted treatment, especially as anti-proliferative drugs become available.

“Proliferation has long been known to be an adverse prognostic factor in myeloma, but it is quite laborious to measure it in the laboratory, and is thus not routinely measured in the large European trial groups,” explained Dr. Dirk Hose, lead author …