Response monitoring in late-stage multiple myeloma

Heinz Ludwig, MD, Wilhelminen Cancer Research Institute, Wilhelminenspital, Vienna, Austria, gives an overview of his presentation on response monitoring in multiple myeloma. Prof. Ludwig describes the use of correlation between tumor cell mass and paraprotein production in patients with early-stage myeloma to monitor response to therapy, and highlights the challenges of response monitoring in patients with long-standing disease, when there can be an uncoupling between tumor cell proliferation and paraprotein production by individual tumor cells. This uncoupling can create misleading results when analyzing disease progression, meaning that clinicians must utilize other parameters to measure disease progression. Prof. Ludwig also discusses the impact of progressive disease on quality-of-life for patients who do not fulfil the definition of progressive disease based on paraprotein levels. This interview took place during the 2021 European Myeloma Network (EMN) congress.