Treatment options for multiple myeloma
-People with multiple myeloma have many treatment options.
The options are
-Watchful waiting
-Induction therapy
-Stem cell transplant
-Sometimes a combination of methods is used.
-Radiation therapy is used sometimes to treat painful bone disease. It may be used alone or along with other therapies.
-If patient has smoldering myeloma or Stage I myeloma he/she may not need treatment for the cancer right away.
-Doctor watches the patient health closely so that treatment can start when he/she begin to have symptoms.
-Not getting cancer treatment right away is called watchful waiting.
-Many different types of drugs are used to treat myeloma.
-People often receive a combination of drugs, and many different combinations are used to treat myeloma.
Each type of drug kills cancer cells in a different way:
-Chemotherapy
-Targeted therapy
-Steroids
-Chemotherapy kills fast-growing myeloma cells, but the drug can also harm normal cells that divide rapidly.
-Targeted therapies use drugs that block the growth of myeloma cells.
-The targeted therapy blocks the action of an abnormal protein that stimulates the growth of myeloma cells.
-Some steroids have antitumor effects.
-It is thought that steroids can trigger the death of myeloma cells.
-A steroid may be used alone or with other drugs to treat myeloma.
Stem cell transplantation
-A method of replacing immature blood-forming cells in the bone marrow that have been destroyed by drugs, radiation or cancer.
-Stem cells are injected into the patient and make healthy blood cells.
A stem cell transplant may be
-Autologous: Using a patient’s own stem cells that were saved before treatment
-Allogeneic: Using stem cells donated by someone who is not an identical twin
-Syngeneic : Using stem cells donated by an identical twin
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