Diagnosis and risk stratification of multiple myeloma / 白血病·淋巴瘤

ABSTRACT

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a clonal malignancy characterized by the infiltration of clonal plasma cells in the bone marrow and monoclonal M protein in peripheral blood and urine. MM can be divided into smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM) with no obvious symptoms and active MM which can be diagnosed according to the end-organ damaging caused by clonal proliferation of plasma cells. When it happens, the patients need to receive systematic treatment. SMM patients without high risk factors merely need the routine observation and following-up. Therefore, right diagnosis and differential diagnosis are related with the indication and timing of treatment. Besides, MM is a very heterogeneous disease with overall survival from a few months to more than ten years. Accurate risk stratification in the initial diagnosis plays a key role in realizing individual treatment and improving prognosis.