What Are The Symptoms Of Multiple Myeloma?

What Are The Symptoms Of Multiple Myeloma

Multiple myeloma symptoms - Today, myeloma is considered an incurable disease, but with modern methods of treatment often fails to achieve complete remission, to relieve the patient from symptoms and improve quality of life. In recent years, thanks to better treatment life of patients significantly prolonged compared with the situation ten years ago. The disease could be brought to a state close to the chronic form, which can be treated with each recurrence.

Multiple myeloma symptoms can vary from a patient, and in the early stages of myeloma often have no visible symptoms or signs. If you have symptoms of multiple myeloma may be vague or similar to symptoms of other conditions. Some of the symptoms of multiple myeloma may also be associated with complications of the disease. Remember that not all people with myeloma will have symptoms and for each person, it is unusual to have all these symptoms. In addition, advances in treatment allow or prevent the symptoms of multiple myeloma.

The most common symptoms of multiple myeloma may include: Bone pain or bone fractures, Fatigue, Increased vulnerability to infections, Increase or decrease in urination, Anxiety (eventually followed by extreme weakness and fatigue), confusion, Increased thirst, Nausea and vomiting, Loss of appetite and weight loss, and Violation of kidney function.

1. Side-bone disease. Bone pain or fractures caused by tiny fractures in the bone (lytic bone lesions) caused by the accumulation of plasma cells; Weakened bone structure.

2. Low blood level. Low level of red blood cells causing fatigue from anemia. Low blood levels may also include low levels of white blood cells, which increases susceptibility to infections and weaken the immune system.

3. Hypercalcemia. Changes in urination, anxiety, confusion, increased thirst, nausea and loss of appetite are usually the result of high calcium levels in the blood.

4. The impaired renal function. Impaired renal function can lead to a number of additional complications and is the consequence of congestion of the kidneys with excess protein and calcium in the blood. Indications of renal dysfunction may also appear on blood tests or urine tests.

Multiple myeloma symptoms - If the individual suspected multiple myeloma, their doctor may run several tests of urine or blood to determine whether it is multiple myeloma.

Myeloma (cancer of plasma cells) is a malignant disease of blood arising because of the failure of plasma cells in the bone marrow. Plasma cells are present in the blood and in the bone marrow. With this kind of cancer is not a single tumor, cancer cells are present in bone marrow, everywhere. When myeloma in the bones can develop around the lesions of different size, displacing healthy tissue and increasing the likelihood of fracture. In some cases, these tumors may be multiple. Usually, the disease occurs between the ages of 50 and 70 years. See also: Multiple Myeloma Symptoms of End Stage.

What are the risk factors for myeloma? Until now, scientists do not know neither the causes of myeloma nor the factors which might affect the prevention of disease. In some cases, to symptoms myeloma (sometimes for several decades before the discovery of the disease) in the blood of patients is detected an abnormal protein (M-component), which increases the risk of myeloma.

How Do Symptoms Of Multiple Myeloma?

The symptoms of myeloma are different. The first signs of the disease include excessive fatigue, or severe inflammatory disease, myeloma is sometimes manifested by kidney failure. The most common symptom is a pain in the bones, most often it hurts the spine. It usually affects vertebrae, ribs, skull, pelvis and long bones of the extremities. Myeloma increases the likelihood of fracture at minimum load or even in its absence. The cause of back pain can be compression of the vertebrae (compressional fracture), and if the compressed the spinal canal, can also occur and paralysis.

Loss bones calcium can lead to hypercalcemia (increased calcium in blood plasma) and its combination with the M component in the blood can damage the kidneys. Multiple myeloma symptoms - Disease, usually accompanied by anemia. There is also an increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). In the transition myeloma in symptomatic requiring treatment stage that causes symptoms is usually anemia, renal dysfunction, hypercalcemia, or bone pain.

How to diagnose myeloma? Typically, the myeloma is found incidentally, when explaining the causes of high ESR or anemia. To confirm the diagnosis and determine the nature of the disease is a biopsy of bone marrow revealed the presence of paraprotein (M-component). Are taking blood and urine tests, performed x-rays of the bones.

What Is The Best Treatment For Myeloma?

If the disease has not spread, the content of calcium in the blood is within the normal range, changes of the bone are missing and renal function is not impaired, treatment can be postponed and simply control the condition. In this case, we are talking about asymptomatic myeloma. The patient is advised to go for regular checkups. Premature treatment is accompanied by numerous side effects and does not prolong the patient's life.

Treatment is recommended to start only when the patient is suffering from obvious symptoms of the disease or during the examination detected functional disorders in the body, for example, changes in the bones or renal dysfunction. Modern treatment methods provide a combination of various drugs, the therapy is selected individually taking into account the age of the patient and potential comorbidities. Most often used for the treatment of cortisone in high doses in combination with other chemotherapeutic drugs, including the newest anticancer drugs for the treatment of myeloma Bortezomib, Thalidomide its derivative Lenalidomide.

Multiple myeloma symptoms - In the treatment of myeloma, the important role played by supportive therapy. To relieve pain in the bones are assigned to strong painkillers if needed, radiation therapy. Appointed by drugs that strengthen bone tissue. An important role in strengthening bones plays physical activity. To prevent infections should take medication with antimicrobial action.

If the patient is not yet 70 years old and he is in good physical form, first he has taken his own stem cells, and then intensive therapy (autologous transplant). This treatment is performed as the final stage, preceded by other aforementioned methods.

Multiple myeloma leukemia - Almost always myeloma can be treated at home or outpatient. During treatment, lasting several months, the patient's condition and the effectiveness of treatment are carefully monitored. Usually, this takes the blood test for the M component. Therapy allows you to track the disease and to achieve remission. If the disease starts to progress significantly, treatment resume. Young patients with unfavorable prognosis can be performed allogeneic stem cell transplantation, but this treatment of myeloma is assigned very rarely. In single plasmacytoma is only radiation therapy, in the absence of primary myeloma in the bone marrow.