Treatment options
There is not a single treatment for multiple myeloma. Instead, the treatment protocol should be aimed at particular problems of each patient and their complications. There is no absolute cure for multiple myeloma. Still, several treatments are useful to reduce the burden of the disease, including thalidomide, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone in smoldering multiple myeloma, and different chemotherapy agents for multiple myeloma.
In some cases, multiple myeloma patients with severe disease are candidates for bone marrow transplantation. In this case, they should also receive immunosuppressant therapy to prevent rejection. Only advanced-stage disease with a high proliferative rate should be a candidate for a potential transplant. In these cases, elderly patients who have been recently diagnosed are not to be considered transplant candidates.
Other therapies include interferon alfa-2b, radiation therapy, bisphosphonate therapy for bone fracture prophylaxis, and adjunctive therapy with plasmapheresis, erythropoietin, corticosteroid, and many other agents according to each case.