Patients with multiple myeloma get benefited from steroid pills
According to new findings from researchers at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, treatment of multiple myeloma involving steroid pills is an effective option offering significant relief to the affected patients.
Multiple myeloma is a type of cancer that is expected to affect more than 14,000 lives in the United States alone.
It was suggested by James Berenson, M.D., lead author of the Southwest Oncology Group sponsored study and Director of the Multiple and Bone Metastasis Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, that the use of prednisone in response to an upfront chemotherapy may be considered as an effective treatment option for prolonging the lives of patients suffering from Multiple Myeloma.
From News.Bio-Medicine.Org:
Multiple myeloma occurs when the body makes an abnormally high number of cancerous plasma cells. When healthy, plasma cells help to protect the body from infection and disease by forming antibodies that attack foreign substances. But when the body makes too many plasma cells that all make the same type of antibody, this leads to multiple myeloma, causing damage to bones, severe bone pain, an overabundance of calcium in the blood, anemia, and a weakening of the immune system. Today, most patients with multiple myeloma receive initial treatment with chemotherapy or with high-dose chemotherapy followed by a stem cell transplant and many respond to treatment and achieve remission. However, all patients ultimately relapse with incurable disease, leading physicians to search for ways to prolong remission for as long as possible by using some type of maintenance therapy.
It was remarked by the researchers that patients can expect to easily maintain their remission and live for long than those not on prednisone after getting administered with oral prednisone in the long-term after chemotherapy treatment.
Tags: chemotherapy, multiple myeloma, oral prednisone, prednisone, steroid, steroid pill treatment, steroid pills
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