Multiple Myeloma: Dhahran Health Center Experience

Abstract

A total of 15 patients (5 males, 10 females) with multiple myeloma and light-chain disease were encountered in Dhahran Health Center during a 6-year period since November 1979. Patients' ages ranged from 45 to 82. Frequency of immunoglobulin G (IgG), immunoglobulin A (IgA) and light-chain secreting tumors in the group were similar to those in larger series. Based on the pretreatment clinical data, 14 of 15 patients (93%) had advanced tumor burden (clinical stage III) and 9 out of 15 (60%) were classified as being poor risk. This is quite different from the experience of Western centers. With comparable treatment and with a mean follow-up duration of 28 months, the median survival has not yet been reached at 13 months, and is expected to be 17 months for the whole group. Actuarial survival for high tumor burden or poor-risk patient subgroups was 16 and 12 months, respectively, comparable to Western experience. These results indicate that a higher proportion of myeloma patients in Saudi Arabia tend to present in an advanced clinical stage, and the course and outcome of the disease is appropriate for and predictable by the stage at presentation.

Multiple Myeloma: A Review of 92 Cases at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

“…No periods of observation were possible because most were in Stage II or III. Onder [3], in a report of a small group of cases with multiple myeloma from the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, also found that his patients presented at a relatively advanced stage.…”

“…It is more common in males than in females, and in the USA is twice as common in blacks in whom it represents 7.2% of malignancies [2]. The incidence in Saudi Arabia is still unknown and the only report, which concerned 15 patients seen at Dhahran Health Center, appeared in the Annals of Saudi Medicine three years ago [3].…”