2024 is Multiple Myeloma Awareness Month. Let’s talk about what it is. A specialist offers perspective
Every year in March, there is a campaign to raise awareness of multiple myeloma, a blood disease that may grow in the bones and other parts of the body. When malignant cells in the bone marrow of a myeloma patient outnumber healthy blood cells, it may lead to many health complications. Furthermore, aberrant myeloma proteins that are released in high quantities by myeloma cells have the potential to affect other body systems, including renal function. Additionally, myeloma cells may weaken bones, which can result in bone discomfort, elevated blood calcium levels, and even fractures with little to no damage.
Dr. Shikhar Kumar, a consultant medical oncologist at Yashoda Hospitals in Hyderabad, states that multiple myeloma is mostly diagnosed in older patients, with an average age of 65 years and above. Additionally, it affects men more often than women. Individuals of this age who exhibit symptoms including increased creatinine levels in blood reports, recurrent infections, lower back discomfort that doesn’t go away, or easy fatigability should be worried and be tested by an oncologist. The diagnosis has to be confirmed by a bone-marrow biopsy.
Although most people with multiple myeloma have an incurable condition, with the correct care, patients may attain long-lasting remissions and a high quality of life. Autologous stem cell transplantation and induction chemotherapy are used to treat younger, more fit individuals. However, the main treatment available to most myeloma patients is chemotherapy, since they are often older and ineligible for transplantation. Following a few months of therapy, the patients are maintained under monitoring. After a while, the majority of patients relapse, at which point they are treated with a different regimen. A number of more recent developments, such as BCMA-CAR T cell immunotherapy, anti-CD38 targeted treatments, and bispecific targeted antibody therapies, have drastically altered the landscape of myeloma treatment in recent years.
