The outlook has radically changed for the better: so many options available that lengthen life and, for the first time, there is hope of recovery. The innovative CAR-T therapies that are changing the history of cancer treatments are also on the way
There are about 5,700 Italians who receive a diagnosis of multiple myeloma, they are on average over 70 years old and more or less a quarter of them discover it by chance, through blood tests made for other reasons.
The first suspects
Often, in fact, in the initial stages the disease does not show signs or presents itself with nonspecific symptoms such as fatigue and back pain. For asymptomatic patients there is no indication for any treatment and frequent checks are carried out to verify the possible evolution of the tumor explains Michele Cavo, director of the Sergnoli Institute of Hematology at the University of Bologna and IRCCS University Hospital of Bologna. For all the others, who instead need treatments, the There are a lot of options available today and the strategy is established on the basis of a series of parameters calibrated on the individual case.
– Giovanni Allevi: I have myeloma, I need to be treated. He will have to stay away from the stage
Survival
Of course, the prospects over the past 20 years, and especially the last 10, have radically changed for the better: it went from a few months of life to an average survival of seven to eight yearswhich often reaches 10. And then for the first time in the history of this tumor, we have the hope of being able to reach the healing – says Cavo, one of the leading experts in Italy -. We must be cautious, not to give false hope to the sick, but those who face this neoplasm in 2022 can do it with one very positive spirit. Therapies and perspectives have changed dramatically. Scientific research has made so much progress and today we have so many different treatments that we can aim to heal a number of patients.
An insidious tumor
Of course multiple myeloma remains a tough nut to crack because it involves temporary remissions followed by relapses and nearly 9 out of 10 patients experience a relapse over time. The neoplasm affects some cells contained in the bone marrow that have the function of producing the antibodies necessary to fight infections (plasma cells). Abnormal growth of tumor plasma cells can cause a reduction in the normal production of red, white and platelets, causing anemia (with consequent asthenia, that is a great one tiredness), lowering of the number of white blood cells (with a predisposition to infections), a drop in platelets (increasing the risk of bleeding) e fragility of the bones.
Possible therapies
The therapeutic innovation of the last twenty years based on the arrival of drugs with direct action towards the plasma cells and the “medullary microenvironment” – explains the expert -. Now we combine drugs with different mechanisms of action (immunomodulating, proteasome inhibitors, monoclonal antibodies) so as to target the tumor on several fronts. We administer them before or after the stem cell transplant (not always foreseen), we have consolidation and maintenance therapies, with the aim of eliminating all cancerous cells, what is technically called “negativizing the minimal residual disease”. And then the innovative ones are also on the way
CAR-Twhich have already completely changed the history of other blood cancers.
June 19, 2022 (change June 20, 2022 | 18:01)
© Time.News