Becca
Favorite Answer
no cure. Best chance for a durable remission is bone marrow transplant. Average life expectancy is 3 years. That is only a statistic, though. Many people can live longer than that. The younger you are and the better shape you're in the better chance you have to respond to treatment.
jewells_40
Hi,
first you can live a LOT longer than 3 years with multiple myeloma; those are old numbers. It is a fatal cancer and survival depends a lot on age and general health. If you get it when you are 65, then it can kill quick, but lots of people die after 65 without cancer. If you get it when you are 42, you live a lot longer, or you at least try to live a lot longer.
Second there is no "cure" but there are a lot of treatments that can prolong life by putting the cancer in remission.
This is a BIG change over even 3 years ago; two new drugs have been approved that really help Velcade and Revelimid.
There are MANY others that are in phase one trial (GenCOR corp's is one and others at UMAS, John Hopkins, and Mayo) which show much promiss.
You do NOT get a bone marrow transplant; that is just incorrect information. You get a STEM cell transplant (SCT) which is a different procedure. This is the "trump card" when the rest start to not work. It resets the playing field and can give PR of even CR for long peroids of time.
MM is a very complicated cancer; biggest thing is to see a MM "expert" that is up on latest trials and information. It is also important that you have latest information: two good sites:
www.myeloma.org
www.multiplemyeloma.org
Good luck,
Jewells
34 months and still here
Anonymous
There is no cure for multiple myeloma.