Multiple Myeloma
What is multiple myeloma?
Multiple myeloma is a rare blood cancer that affects your plasma cells. Plasma cells are white blood cells and part of your immune system. Plasma cells (sometimes called B-cells) make antibodies. These antibodies, called immunoglobulins, help fight infection.
Multiple myeloma happens when healthy cells turn into abnormal cells that multiply and produce abnormal antibodies called M proteins. This change starts a cascade of medical issues and conditions that can affect your bones, your kidneys and your body’s ability to make healthy white and red blood cells and platelets.
Types
Symptoms
- Bone pain often is the first symptom people notice.
- Weakness in your arms and legs and/or a sensation of numbness in your arms and legs. Multiple myeloma can affect the bones in your spine, causing them to collapse and press on your <spinal cord.
- Having fatigue — feeling so tired you can’t manage daily activities — and feeling weak. These are signs of anemia.
- Nausea and vomiting. This may be a sign of hypercalcemia.
- Not having an appetite and/or feeling thirstier than usual. These may be signs of hypercalcemia.
- Unexplained weight loss.
- Unexplained fever. This may be a symptom of a bacterial infection.
- Bruising or bleeding more easily. This may be a sign abnormal plasma cells prevent your body from producing enough platelets. Platelets help your blood to clot.
- Feeling confused or “foggy.”
Risk factors
- Getting older. Most people are diagnosed in their late 60s.
- Being male. Men are more likely to develop the disease than are women.
- Being Black. Black people are more likely to develop multiple myeloma than are people of other races.
- Having a family history of multiple myeloma. Having a sibling or parent with multiple myeloma increases the risk of the disease.
- Having monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, also called MGUS. Multiple myeloma starts as MGUS, so having this condition increases the risk.
Cause
The exact cause of multiple myeloma is unknown. It starts when a single plasma cell in the bone marrow becomes cancerous and multiplies uncontrollably. These abnormal cells crowd out healthy blood cells, impair the immune system, and produce unusable antibodies (M proteins) that can damage organs and bones.
Staging
Healthcare providers stage multiple myeloma and other cancers to learn about the cancer’s size and location. Cancer staging lays the foundation for treatment. The staging process for multiple myeloma starts with placing the condition in one of four classifications:
In both staging systems, 7 key pieces of information are used:
- TMGUS: Blood tests show small amounts of M protein. About 1 % to 2% of people with MGUS develop multiple myeloma.
- Solitary or isolated plasmacytomas: These are single groups of abnormal plasma cells.
- SMM: This is a pre-cancerous form of multiple myeloma. People who have SMM may have mild symptoms along with tests showing small amounts of M protein in their blood and an increased number of plasma cells in their bone marrow.
- Multiple myeloma: This classification means tests show multiple groups of abnormal plasma cells, high M protein levels in blood or urine and a high percentage of abnormal plasma cells in bone marrow. People in this classification often have anemia, hypercalcemia, kidney failure and osteolytic lesions.
5-Year Survival Rate
At a glance:
| Estimated new cases in 2024 | 36,110 |
| % of all new cancer cases | 1.8% |
| Estimated deaths in 2024 | 12, 030 |
| % of all cancer deaths | 1.9% |
| 5-year relative survival (2014–2020) | 62.4% |