Understanding Multiple Myeloma—A Book Review

Understanding Multiple Myeloma is a comprehensive book that can be a guide to anyone with multiple myeloma. Written by Dr. Cristina Gasparetto, Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of Multiple Myeloma Program at Duke University Medical Center and Dharshan Sivaraj of the Duke University Division of Cellular Therapy & Hematologic Malignancies, the book aims to "provide a framework for patients, students, and health professionals alike to better understand the history, treatment, and behavior of the blood cancer multiple myeloma” (Preface).

The book includes many important topics, such as:

• Who gets myeloma, broken down into age, race and gender
• An extensive yet comprehensible definition of multiple myeloma
• How myeloma is diagnosed and classified
• Different myeloma clinical studies
• Test responses and corresponding treatments (including chemotherapy and stem cell transplants)
• Supportive care therapies to combat patient symptoms and increase quality of life
• The future of myeloma

Understanding Multiple Myeloma was written with the everyday reader in mind. It contains widespread and detailed information, but is well organized and easy to understand.  The book includes footnotes that define unfamiliar terms to increase comprehension and has an index which makes specific searches easy to navigate. It is not a lengthy read, with just short of 150 pages.

To access a copy of Understanding Multiple Myeloma, purchase it on Amazon.