Staging and survival in multiple myeloma

Abstract

The records of 91 patients with multiple myeloma were reviewed and staging was performed according to Durie & Salmon (1). Patients with progressive disease were re‐staged. Patients first diagnosed in stage I were younger than patients first diagnosed in stage III and survived longer than patients in stages II or III. The duration of stage I was longer than the duration of stages II and III. When patients in stage I‐II progressed into stage III, their age and remaining survival time were similar to the age and survival of patients first diagnosed in stage III. These findings are compatible with the hypothesis that myeloma stage I prededes myeloma stage III and is often diagnosed by chance. It is suggested that patients with myeloma stage I should be omitted from comparisons between different myeloma populations.

Improved Survival in Multiple Myeloma with Renal Failure

“…In the clinical staging system for multiple myeloma proposed by Dune and Salmon (l), easily available clinical data are used for the separation of myeloma patients into three stages, with low, intermediate, or large tumour cell mass. Several studies have confirmed the prognostic value of this staging system (2)(3)(4). Patients with impaired renal function in addition to a large tumour cell mass (stage IIIB) have the worst prognosis (1).…”