Multiple myeloma life expectancy

The blood in the human body is comprised of a number of components includingleukocytes, popularly known as white blood cells, which can be of five types. Whenplasma cells, which are a type of the leukocytes, develop a cancer, it is calledmultiple myeloma. Another name for this type of cancer is Kahler’s disease, as well as plasmacell myeloma. The white blood cells are a part of the immune system in thehuman body since they create antibodies, which kill the foreign bodies that penetrate into the body.

The myeloma cells are actually the abnormal plasma cells and when theyoverproduce themselves, multiple myeloma occurs. This cancer can have manyconsequences for the immune system and bone, as well as for functioning of the kidneys and total count of the red blood cells.

Multiple myeloma prognosis

This kind of cancer is very rare and small number of people in the worldsuffers from it. However, accurate prognosis of multiple myeloma can be doneonly after considering all aspects regarding the disease.

First of all, the prognosis is done depending on the stage at which thedisease is detected. There are three stages of multiple myeloma and theprognosis is favorable if t is discovered in the earliest stage. Secondly, theplace of the caner is also very important for making the prognosis, as well as thedegree of the kidney damage and immunoglobulin abundance. The accurate prognosis also depends on the age and the overall health of thepatient and his/her response to the initial treatment.

Multiple myeloma life expectancy

The doctors establish the stage ofthe multiple myeloma according to the levels of two proteins in the blood. Thefirst protein is serum albumin, while the other is called beta-2 microglobulin.

When the multiple myeloma is detected in the first stage, the average life expectancy,which is, by the way, the highest in this stage, is around 62 months from thetime when it was discovered. In this stage, the serum albumin has the valuesabove 3.5, while beta-2 globulin has the levels under 3.5.The patients with the second stageof multiple myeloma have about 44 months to live after the detection and in thesepatients, the range of the beta-2 globulin is between 3.5 and 5.5.In the third stage of multiple myeloma, the patients have beta-2 microglobulinlevels above 5.5 and their life expectancy is approximately 29 months from the moment when thecancer is detected.