Can multiple myeloma be prevented?

For some types of cancer, risk factors are known for the majority of cases. For example, smoking causes most lung cancers. This provides an opportunity for prevention. For other cancers, such as cervical cancer, pre-cancers can be detected early by a screening test (such as the Pap test) and treated before they develop into an invasive cancer.

With multiple myeloma, few cases are linked to risk factors that you can avoid. For those people with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance or solitary plasmacytomas there is no known way to prevent multiple myeloma from developing.