A recently published Greek study provides updated data on the sig­nif­i­cance of MRI-detected focal lesions in the spine in patients with smol­der­ing myeloma.

The Greek study confirms that having more than one focal lesion in the spine puts a smoldering myeloma patient at a noticeably higher risk of progressing to multiple myeloma.

Focal lesions are areas of abnormal cells in the bone marrow. They are not lesions in the outer (hard) area of the bone – lesions which are often called "lytic" lesions.

The Greek researchers found that the smoldering myeloma patients …

The sun is shining, and our cats are dreaming in sunbeams about catch­ing quick-footed squirrels just out of reach. Summer … It feels good to finally be here, and so it’s fitting that I now conclude the three-part series on our journey from the dark days of my husband Daniel’s initial diag­no­sis to the brighter days of the present.

As I mentioned in my last column, we moved to Houston in 2012 so that Daniel could be treated by a myeloma specialist at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. I truly believe that …

This year’s American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in Chicago ended last Tuesday.

The day before the meeting ended was the busiest day at the meeting with re­gard to myeloma research.  It featured a session of oral pre­sen­ta­tions in the morn­ing and a poster session in the afternoon. In addi­tion, an education ses­sion was held in the afternoon that included one myeloma-related talk, given by Dr. Leif Bergsagel of the Mayo Clinic, about progress in the treat­ment of mul­ti­ple myeloma (article in the ASCO 2014 Edu­ca­tional Book).

This update …

After my husband Daniel’s initial diagnosis with monoclonal gam­mop­a­thy of undetermined significance (MGUS) in 2012, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the “treatment” plan of watching and waiting, which had been suggested by a local hematologist/oncologist, was not enough.

The hematologist/oncologist wasn’t a myeloma specialist, and he wasn’t connected to a research hospital. My mother had ovarian center in the 1990s, and I know what an impact it had on her recovery to have had a re­search hospital involved in her treatment.

I believed that we couldn’t get the care we …

The American Society of Clinical Oncology will hold its 50^th annual meet­ing May 30 through June 3 in Chicago.

Similar to pre­vi­ous years, more than 25,000 physicians and re­searchers from all over the world are ex­pec­ted to attend the five-day meeting to dis­cuss the current re­search in cancer treat­ment and care.

During the meeting, there will be pre­sen­ta­tions about all areas of cancer, in­clud­ing many focused specifically on multiple myeloma. The ASCO website cur­rently lists in­for­ma­tion about more than 60 myeloma-related studies (included under either the "multiple myeloma" or "plasma cell …

Results from a German retrospective study show that repeated whole-body mag­netic resonance imaging may identify smoldering myeloma patients with an increased risk of progressing to symptomatic multiple myeloma.

In their study, the German researchers looked at smoldering myeloma patients who had whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans at the time of diagnosis and during regular follow-up visits.

The researchers found that patients whose follow-up scans showed pro­gres­sion of their disease had a 16.5-fold higher risk of progressing to symptomatic myeloma than patients who had stable disease based on their follow-up scans.

The …

The year 2013 is likely to be remembered as a very good year when it comes to re­search related to multiple myeloma.

Previous years have witnessed re­search shedding new light on existing my­e­lo­ma ther­a­pies, as well as addi­tional re­search about poten­tial new ther­a­pies.

But, in the past, most of the im­por­tant new ther­a­pies that were being re­searched were from existing classes of ther­apy, making them less likely to offer dramatic im­prove­ments in the treat­ment of the dis­ease.

In 2013, not only was there more re­search about existing ther­a­pies, and more re­search about …