Clinical features and diagnosis of multiple myeloma

Abstract

INTRODUCTION — Multiple myeloma (MM) is characterized by the neoplastic proliferation of plasma cells producing a monoclonal immunoglobulin. The plasma cells proliferate in the bone marrow and often results in extensive skeletal destruction with osteolytic lesions, osteopenia, and/or pathologic fractures. The diagnosis of MM is often suspected because of one (or more) of the following clinical presentations: ●Bone pain with lytic lesions discovered on routine skeletal films or other imaging modalities ●An increased total serum protein concentration and/or the presence of a monoclonal protein in the urine or serum ●Systemic signs or symptoms suggestive of malignancy, such as unexplained anemia ●Hypercalcemia, which is either symptomatic or discovered incidentally ●Acute renal failure with a bland urinalysis or rarely the nephrotic syndrome due to concurrent immunoglobulin light chain (AL) amyloidosis