|
WHAT ARE CURRENT STANDARD AVAILABLE TREATMENTS?
Chemotherapy - kills malignant plasma cells, with the aim of inducing a remission or plateau. Hopefully, a cure will eventually will be found.
Radiation Therapy - is used locally, where there is bone destruction and pain. The affected area is exposed to controlled doses of radiation. Radiation can kill malignant cells much more quickly than chemotherapy and has less side-effects. It is therefore, used to achieve quicker pain relief and control severe bone destruction.
Bone Marrow & Peripheral Stem Cell Transplants - are being evaluated in clinical trials as a treatment and aiming at a potential cure for myeloma. Typically, they involve extremely high doses of chemotherapy. The therapy is so potent, it destroys all of the patient's bone marrow. The marrow transplant replaces the destroyed marrow, 'rescuing' the patient. It is hoped that by destroying all the marrow, the malignant myeloma cells will also be destroyed. Bone marrow and stem cell transplants are by far the most aggressive treatment programs in common use today, and they also have the highest level of risk.
|
|
