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Research Paper On Multiple Myeloma

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In 2015, the American Cancer Society estimated about 26,850 new cases of multiple myeloma in the United states (“Statistics on myeloma” n.d). After leukemia and lymphoma, multiple myeloma is the third most common blood cancer in the United States. Multiple myeloma is a cancer which many tumors are scattered in places of the bone marrow. The name myeloma comes from the greek roots myelos (bone marrow) and oma (tumor)(“Progress in treating multiple myeloma” 2010). This disease comes from the inability of plasma cells to function properly. Plasma cells are white blood cells in bone marrow that fight off invading pathogens. Also known as B lymphocytes, these cells have differentiating responses to viruses and bacterias that enter the body. The …show more content…

Multiple myeloma is staged based on the Durie- Salmon staging system which contain four contributing factors: severity of bone damage, the amount of calcium and hemoglobin in the blood, and the amount of abnormal monoclonal immunoglobulin in the blood or urine (“An Overview” 2012). In the first stage of multiple myeloma it is indicated that the tumor is small, there is a small number of myeloma cells present during this stage. In addition to the tumor, there are other things that affect the body. The hemoglobin levels tend to be slightly less than normal but still a little over 10 g/dL. However, while reviewing x-rays little or no bone damage is shown and the amount of calcium in the blood remains less than 12 mg/dl [average]. Also the amount of abnormal monoclonal immunoglobulin is present in small amounts in either the blood or urine. While in stage two the symptoms fluctuate between stage one and three but there are a moderate number of plasma cells. As the cancer progresses large amounts of plasma cells are present which is classified as stage three. In addition to the large amounts of plasma cells, one of the following should also be present for the cancer to be classified as a stage three, low hemoglobin levels below 8.5g/dL, a blood calcium level of above 12 mg/dL, large amounts of monoclonal immunoglobulin in the blood or urine and three or more areas of bone destroyed by the cancerous cells (How is multiple myeloma staged?

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