"Minimal Residual Disease in Multiple Myeloma: Potential for Blood-Based Methods to Monitor Disease".

In recent years, the life expectancy of Multiple Myeloma (MM) patients has substantially improved, but this cancer remains incurable with increasing incidence in the developed world. Most MM patients will eventually relapse due to residual drug-resistant cancerous cells that survive treatment, commonly referred to as minimal residual disease (MRD). Methods to improve MRD detection in MM patients are generating considerable interest as a means of monitoring patients' response to treatment. In clinical laboratories, these methods currently require bone marrow aspirates which are invasive and frequently miss detection of localised disease due to the spatial heterogeneity of disease infiltration.
Source: Clinical Lymphoma, Myeloma and Leukemia - Category: Hematology Authors: Source Type: research