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International Myeloma Working Group recommendations for global myeloma care

Abstract

Recent developments have led to remarkable improvements in the assessment and treatment of patients with multiple myeloma (MM). New technologies have become available to precisely evaluate the biology and extent of the disease, including information about cytogenetics and genetic abnormalities, extramedullary manifestations and minimal residual disease. New, more effective drugs have been introduced into clinical practice, which enable clinicians to significantly improve the outcome of patients but also pose new challenges for the prevention and management of their specific side effects. Given these various new options and challenges, it is important to identify the minimal requirements for diagnosis and treatment of patients, as access to the most sophisticated advances may vary depending on local circumstances. Here, we propose the minimal requirements and possible options for diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of patients with multiple myeloma.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to acknowledg the secretarial assistance of Raphaela Oswald and the support by the International Myeloma Foundation and Austrian Forum against Cancer.

Author Contributions

All authors participated actively in the IMWG summit in Amsterdam and contributed to the workshop on global myeloma care. The outcome of the meeting was summarized in an initial draft, which was circulated, modified and/or commented by all authors. All authors contributed to the manuscript. Heinz Ludwig and Pia Sondergeld served as writers.

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Competing interests

Heinz Ludwig received honoraria and research funding from Celgene, Janssen-Cilag and Mundipharma; Jesus San Miguel received honoraria from Celgene, Millenium and Janssen-Cilag; Meltios Dimopoulos received honoraria from Celgene and Novartis; Antonio Palumbo received honoraria from Celgene, Janssen-Cilag and Millenium; Ramon Garcia Sanz received honoraria from Ortho-Biotech and Celgene; Suzanne Lentsch received honoraria and research funding from Celgene; Jian Hou received honoraria from Novartis and is member of the steering committee of Novartis; Roman Hajek received honoraria from Merck and Celgene; Evangelos Terpos received honoraria from Celgene; Kazuyuki Shimizu received honoraria from Celgene; Douglas Joshua received honoraria from Celgene and Janssen-Cilag for speakers forum and advisory board functions; Elena Zamagni received honoraria from Janssen-Cilag and Celgene; and Brian Durie received research funding and honoraria from Celgene, Merck, Millenium and Novartis. Raymond Powles, Wen Ming Chen, Artur Jurczynszyn, Kenneth Romeril, Vania Hungria, Angelina Rodrigues Morales, Dina Ben-Yehuda and Pia Sondergeld did not declare any conflict of interest.

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Ludwig, H., Miguel, J., Dimopoulos, M. et al. International Myeloma Working Group recommendations for global myeloma care. Leukemia 28, 981–992 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/leu.2013.293

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