Multiple Myeloma
Worldwide key player in diagnosis and monitoring of Multiple Myeloma patients.
Multiple Myeloma, also known as Kahler’s disease, is the second most common blood cancer worldwide, with nearly 188,000 new cases diagnosed each year.
Multiple Myeloma is typically diagnosed in older individuals between 65 and 74 years old, but people younger than 50 can also exhibit symptoms.
Over the past two decades, the incidence of multiple myeloma has steadily increased, mainly due to the aging of the global population and improvements in diagnostic practices.To date, the risk factors that trigger the transformation and uncontrolled multiplication of plasma cells are not well known.
What is Multiple Myeloma?
Multiple Myeloma is a cancer characterized by the proliferation of a clone of plasma cells in the bone marrow and induces overproduction of immunoglobulins (antibody proteins) that crowd out the normal blood-forming cells and prevent them from functioning effectively.
The symptoms of Multiple Myeloma include bone lesions, anaemia, kidney damage and susceptibility to infections. Patients commonly experience bone pain and fractures, also experiencing weight loss, tiredness and repeated infections.
The overproduction of monoclonal protein (M-protein) by malignant plasma cells is a hallmark of multiple myeloma. Because M-protein levels are closely associated with disease activity, they serve as one of the most important biomarkers for diagnosing, monitoring, and assessing response to treatment.
<p>Early detection and accurate monitoring are key to improving outcomes and guiding effective management of Multiple Myeloma.</p>
Key figures
2nd
most common Blood Cancer
188k
new cases each year
40%
of multiple myeloma patients experience symptoms for more than six months before the disease is diagnosed
How do we diagnose Multiple Myeloma?
Serum and urine protein electrophoresis and their immunological characterization are the gold standard for Multiple Myeloma diagnosis, for monitoring the disease and to assess the patient’s response to treatment.
Protein electrophoresis is recommended by IMWG (International Myeloma Working Group) for screening serum and urine samples for abnormalities protein detection.
Once the Monoclonal protein is identified (or suspected), it must be characterized by an immunofixation or immunotyping test to identify the M-Protein type (IgG, IgA, IgM, IgD, IgE) and light chain (kappa or Lambda) involved.
Knowledge & Science
No content available.
Instruments for diagnosing Multiple Myeloma
No content available.
References
a) [Multiple Myeloma Data - Global Cancer Observatory] (https://gco.iarc.who.int/media/globocan/factsheets/cancers/35-multiple-myeloma-fact-sheet.pdf)
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