Dr. Vincent Rajkumar, MD Mayo Clinic Interview Date: November 20

 Dr. Vincent Rajkumar, MD, of the Mayo Clinic shares the very large number of changes by the International Myeloma Working Group for the treatment of myeloma. This is a group created by the IMF with over 180 myeloma specialists who are weighing in to change the 2003 treatment guidelines that reflect the advancements made in myeloma care and better diagnostic tools. With deeper diagnostics and more knowledge about how and when myeloma will progress, myeloma specialists want to intervene early and prevent serious end-organ damage (bone and kidney) when they know the myeloma will ultimately progress. The new guidelines strike a delicate balance to allow earlier detection yet are careful that the new guidelines will not mean an increase in false-positive diagnoses.  Major changes were made in the lengthy paper he discusses. There are more definitions for separating MGUS patients into risk categories, new treatment standards for those with a solitary plasmacytoma (single lesion) and more clear definitions for smoldering myeloma patients. He notes an interesting fact, that smoldering myeloma patients' risk goes down the longer that they have had smoldering myeloma that does not progress. Dr. Rajkumar gives an excellent explanation of the detailed changes that is easy to understand. There is much to learn and share (with other patients and YOUR oncologist) about these new standards that change the treatment of myeloma.   The mPatient Myeloma Show with Dr. Vincent Rajkumar