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 …

Results of a recent retro­spec­tive­ study show that radiation ther­apy shortly before, or shortly after, the start of drug-based treat­ment in newly diag­nosed multiple myeloma patients is asso­ci­ated with lower over­all survival.

The results are based on in­for­ma­tion for 78,095 multiple myeloma patients from the United States whose data were reported to the National Cancer Data Base be­tween 2004 and 2015.

For their retro­spec­tive­ analysis, the authors of the new study divided the 78,095 patients in their sample into two groups.

One group in­cluded the patients who were found to have undergone …

Results of a retro­spec­tive­ study conducted at the Mayo Clinic indicate that multiple myeloma patients who respond more gradually to their initial treat­ment may have better over­all survival.

Specifically, the authors of the new study find that newly diag­nosed patients who required more than 120 days to achieve their best response to initial treat­ment had better pro­gres­sion-free and over­all survival than patients who achieved their best response in 120 days or less.

The five-year survival rate was 77 per­cent for patients who achieved their best response to initial treat­ment in more than …

Updated multiple myeloma survival statistics for the United States were made public yesterday. The new data show little change in five-year survival compared to statistics released last year. This short-term plateau in myeloma survival stands in contrast to the sizable increases in survival seen in last year's update and the one in 2016.

The newly released statistics also show little change in how survival varies across myeloma patients based on their age, race, or gender. Age con­tin­ues to have a significant effect on survival chances, with younger patients ex­periencing much higher …

Hello, myeloma world.

We hope your week has gotten off to a great start.

We're looking forward to reviewing three new myeloma-related research studies with you today.

The first study we summarize in today's report focuses on the survival of older blood cancer patients, including (of course) older multiple myeloma patients.

The second study presents the results of the CHAMPION-1 clinical trial, which tested once weekly Kyprolis in com­bi­na­tion with dexa­meth­a­sone in re­lapsed multiple myeloma patients.

The final study we review is a detailed look at an important Revlimid-related side effect – …

A pleasant weekend to you, myeloma world.

Today is a quiet day in terms of new myeloma-related research and news. We've got just two items in our daily list of new myeloma research, which you can always find at the end of every Myeloma Morning. The article's in today's list are specialized enough that we won't be summarizing them in this report.

We do want to mention, however, that the 2016 annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is taking place this weekend and early next …

Hello again, myeloma world.

As we continue catching up after the recent onslaught of new myeloma-related research, we're pleased to report that it's a sunny spring day outside. More importantly, our top story today reflects Mother Nature's pleasant disposition.

In particular, there is updated data about multiple myeloma survival in the United States, and it's good news.

It's just an annual update – a single new value for survival five-years from the time of diagnosis. And it's for patients diagnosed all the way back in 2008 – the most recent year for …