Multiple Myeloma

At the Fifth Annual Conference of the Association for Value-­Based Cancer Care in Washington, DC, Grant Lawless, RPh, MD, FACP, of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, moderated a multidisciplinary panel on value-based care for patients with multiple myeloma.

Multiple myeloma, also referred to as myeloma, is a cancer of plasma cells in the bone marrow that often leads to bone destruction and bone marrow failure. According to the American Cancer Society, more than 26,800 new cases of multiple myeloma will be diagnosed in 2015, and 11,240 deaths will be attributed to this disease.

All patients with smoldering or asymptomatic multiple myeloma should undergo whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), or pelvic and spinal MRI if whole body is unavailable, according to recommendations from the International Myeloma Working Group (IMWG). The presence of >1 focal lesions >5 mm should be considered diagnostic for symptomatic myeloma requiring therapy.

Hollywood, FL—New targeted agents in multiple myeloma will turn it into a chronic illness, with sustained complete response possible in a significant fraction of patients, predicted Kenneth C. Anderson, MD, Director, Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, at his presentation at the 2015 National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) conference.