Multiple myeloma is a blood cancer that affects plasma cells, which are white blood cells that are produced from stem cells in bone marrow (the spongy tissue inside of bones).
In people with myeloma, plasma cells grow at an abnormal rate and are called myeloma cells. Myeloma cells restrict and impair the production of healthy blood cells in the bone marrow. The disease is called multiple myeloma because the cancer occurs at more than one site in the bones.
There is one main type of myeloma, but the cancerous plasma cells make different antibodies in different people. In each case, only one kind of immunoglobulin is overproduced, but the type varies from person to person.
- Smoldering myeloma, also called indolent myeloma, has no symptoms but is characterized by small increases in the M protein in the blood and of the M plasma cells in the bone marrow. Smoldering myeloma develops slowly and since there are no bone tumors or damage to the body, the recommended treatment is watchful observation.
- Solitary plasmocytoma is only one tumor, usually in a bone. This type of cancer responds well to treatment but must be monitored closely at regular intervals.
Learn more about myelomas:
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