Can Multiple Myeloma Be Found Early?
It’s difficult to diagnose multiple myeloma early. Often, multiple myeloma causes no symptoms until it reaches an advanced stage. Sometimes, it might cause vague symptoms that at first seem to be caused by other diseases. Sometimes, multiple myeloma is found early when a routine blood test shows an abnormally high amount of protein in the blood.
People with MGUS (monoclonal gammopathy of unknown significance) or solitary plasmacytoma are at risk of developing multiple myeloma and have regular bloodwork to monitor for it. Multiple myeloma may be diagnosed sooner in those people than those who did not have MGUS or a solitary plasmacytoma.
The American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team
Our team is made up of doctors and master's-prepared nurses with deep knowledge of cancer care as well as journalists, editors, and translators with extensive experience in medical writing.
Munshi NC, Anderson KC. Ch. 112 Plasma cell neoplasms. In: DeVita VT, Hellman S, Rosenberg SA, eds. Cancer: Principles and Practice of Oncology. 10th edition. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2015.
Rajkumar SV, Dispenzieri A. Multiple myeloma and related disorders. In: Niederhuber JE, Armitage JO, Doroshow JH, Kastan MB, Tepper JE. Abeloff’s Clinical Oncology. 5th edition. Philadelphia, PA. Elsevier: 2014:1991-2017.
Last Medical Review: February 28, 2018 Last Revised: February 28, 2018
American Cancer Society medical information is copyrighted material. For reprint requests, please see our Content Usage Policy.