Dr. Morgan on the Differences in Low- and High-Risk Multiple Myeloma

Gareth J. Morgan, MD, PhD, professor, Department of Medicine, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, director, Multiple Myeloma Research, Perlmutter Cancer Center, NYU Langone Health, discusses differences in low- and high-risk multiple myeloma.

Risk is a continuous spectrum from low to high in multiple myeloma, Morgan explains. Therefore, it is possible to have a patient with high-risk multiple myeloma that has standard natural history, but shortened progression-free survival and overall survival, Morgan explains. 

Patients with ultra high­­–risk disease have a different natural history compared with patients with low-, standard- or high-risk multiple myeloma, Morgan continues. Patients with ultra high–risk multiple myeloma tend to have highly proliferative disease with circulating plasma cells and extramedullary disease, Morgan says. Additionally, these difficult-to-treat patients tend to relapse soon after treatment, Morgan concludes.