Multiple Myeloma Treatment

Multiple myeloma is caused due to the uncontrolled growth and division of plasma cells in the human body. These plasma cells attach themselves to the bone marrow and the solid part of the bone. There are many symptoms and risk factors that need to be taken under consideration before you begin to think about getting yourself checked for this disorder. The symptoms range from back pains, broken bones to felling of nausea and lethargy.

Depending on the symptoms there are a wide range of treatment options available for the common man.

The best thing to do before you enroll yourself for treatment is to get a proper medical checkup where in you need to carry out the following tests: blood tests, urine tests, X-rays and biopsies. Though the above mentioned symptoms may be pointing towards multiple myeloma it is not always a pure case as these symptoms are related to many other disorders that affect the human body. A doctors checkup is necessary as you need to observe the symptoms to see if they mature into those that are compatible with multiple myeloma.

If you have any of the above problems that genuinely point towards a MM case then you doctor will refer you drugs that mostly are anti cancer drugs of the steroid type. However if the symptoms are very advanced you may be put under a session of stem cell transplantation as well as a procedure known as radiation/chemotherapy.

As there are no sure treatment options that have been discovered that treat this disorder and destroy it fully you may want to consult your doctor before going in for these procedures or you can even enroll yourself for a clinical trial. A clinical trial generally will try to cure your symptoms using the latest cures that have been discovered.

The main categories of treatment are as follows:

- Cancer fighting drugs

This treatment makes use of drugs that possess cancer fighting properties and maybe in the form of steroids. This treatment is very systematic as these drugs are assimilated into the bloodstream and affect these extra collections of myeloma cells all over the human body.

Cyclophosphamide, Prednisone etc is some of the brands of the drugs that are used to counter the effects of this disease. Treatment is either intravenous or orally.

- Stem cell

This treatment approach allows the patient to receive really high doses of radiation, chemotherapy where in the myeloma cells as well as the normal cells are destroyed. However with the help of a stem transplant these cells are replaced. Some people require about 2-3 transplants. Healthy cells are transferred by means of a pipe connected to the region that is affected. The stem cells may come from a donor or from the patient himself.

- Radiation

Radiation therapy uses high power rays to bombard the affected region, as this process damages both healthy as well as harmful cells this treatment is divided into two categories viz, local radiation, total body radiation. This treatment procedure may go on for weeks till the affected part is brought down to a normal condition.