The PDQ cancer information summaries are reviewed regularly and updated as new information becomes available. This section describes the latest changes made to this summary as of the date above.

General Information ¹

Added text ² to include the additional parameters of serum albumin and beta-2-microglobulin levels and detection of free kappa and lambda serum immunoglobulin light chain, which are used in the initial evaluation of a patient (cited Dispenzieri et al. as reference 6).

Multiple Myeloma ³

Added text ⁴ to include measuring serum-free kappa and lambda light chain, and stated cases in which it is particularly useful, as a step in the evaluation of patients with a monoclonal protein in the serum and/or urine (cited 2009 Dispenzieri et al. as reference 4).

Added text ⁵ about multiple therapeutic agents that are available for induction therapy, either alone or in combinations (cited Palumbo et al. as reference 16).

Added text ⁶ to list considerations of a clinician in choosing induction therapy and added that patients with a standard risk might receive induction therapy alone followed by careful observation after best response and patients with a high risk might receive induction therapy until best response, followed by consolidation therapy with allogeneic or autologous stem cell transplantations (cited 2007 Dispenzieri et al. as reference 23).

Added Ludwig et al. as reference 35 ⁷.

Added Hulin et al. as reference 36 ⁷; updated text in the Thalidomide subsection.

Added Richardson et al. as reference 48 ⁸.

Added Bruno et al. as reference 90 ⁹ and Rotta et al. as reference 91 ⁹.

Added text ¹⁰ to include a meta-analysis of six randomized clinical trials that compared patients with single versus tandem autologous hematopoietic cell transplantations and showed no difference in overall survival or event-free survival (cited Kumar et al. as reference 92 and level of evidence 1A).