MULTIPLE MYELOMA
Multiple myeloma is a cancer that forms in a type of white blood cell called a plasma cell. Plasma cells help you fight infections by making antibodies that recognize and attack germs.
Multiple myeloma causes cancer cells to accumulate in the bone marrow, where they crowd out healthy blood cells. Rather than produce helpful antibodies, the cancer cells produce abnormal proteins that can cause complication
Causes
It's not clear what causes myeloma.
Risk factors
Factors that may increase your risk of multiple myeloma include:
Increasing age. Your risk of multiple myeloma increases as you age, with most people diagnosed in their mid-60s.
Male sex. Men are more likely to develop the disease than are women.
Black race. Black people are about twice as likely to develop multiple myeloma as are white people.
Family history of multiple myeloma. If a brother, sister or parent has multiple myeloma, you have an increased risk of the disease.
Personal history of a monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS). Every year 1 percent of the people with MGUS in the United States develop multiple myeloma.
Complications
Complications of multiple myeloma include:
Frequent infections. Myeloma cells inhibit your body's ability to fight infections.
Bone problems. Multiple myeloma can also affect your bones, leading to bone pain, thinning bones and broken bones.
Reduced kidney function. Multiple myeloma may cause problems with kidney function, including kidney failure. Higher calcium levels in the blood related to eroding bones can interfere with your kidneys' ability to filter your blood's waste. The proteins produced by the myeloma cells can cause similar problems.
Low red blood cell count (anemia). As myeloma cells crowd out normal blood cells, multiple myeloma can also cause anemia and other blood problems
Treatments for myeloma
Targeted therapy. Targeted drug treatment focuses on specific abnormalities within cancer cells that allow them to survive. ...
Biological therapy. Biological therapy drugs use your body's immune system to fight myeloma cells. ...
Chemotherapy. ...
Corticosteroids. ...
Bone marrow transplant. ...
RadiatIon
Dr Pritesh S Junagade
MD (Medicine), MRCP(UK)
FRCPath (UK), CCST(UK)
Consultant Haematologist, Haemato-Oncologist and Bone Marrow Transplant Physician.
