Hot Topics of Discussion in the Management of Multiple Myeloma

Jens Hillengass, MD, professor of oncology and internal medicine, chief of myeloma, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, professor of medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Buffalo, discusses the key takeaways from his presentation at the 2020 National Comprehensive Cancer Network Virtual Congress: Hematologic Malignancies, in which he shared his insights on the diagnostic and staging criteria in multiple myeloma.

Physicians should be careful not to treat patients with multiple myeloma too early as some may have smoldering disease, which in some cases may be able to survive without treatment for a long period of time, Hillengass says. It is important, however, to differentiate this type of disease between other types of myeloma that require more immediate treatment.

Another takeaway, Hillengass says, is that imaging can help physicians differentiate between the high and low tumor burden types of disease. They can measure treatment response, which is another factor to consider. There are new techniques for imaging that can find the depth of remission, Hillengass says, while molecular and flow cytometry techniques assess minimal residual disease negativity.