Managing Early Relapse in Multiple Myeloma

Saad Z. Usmani, MD, FACP, chief of Plasma Cell Disorder, director of Clinical Research in Hematologic Malignancies, Levine Cancer Institute, Atrium Health, discusses how to manage early relapse in multiple myeloma.

For the most part, there is no cure for myeloma, so patients go through multiple lines of therapy. There are, however, certain high-risk feaures that can be seen at the time of diagnosis that can help identify patients who are at a high risk of relapse.

Patients with these features, including translocation (4;14) (14;16) (14;20), deletion 17p, and amplification of chromosome 1q21, may be at a greater risk for early relapse, Usmani says. Still, some patients may not show any of these high-risk features but still go on to have an early relapse. Therefore, physicians look for these features as predictors, but also follow the clinical course of patients.