Recently Diagnosed or Relapsed? Stop Looking For a Miracle Cure, and Use Evidence-Based Therapies To Enhance Your Treatment and Prolong Your Remission
Multiple Myeloma an incurable disease, but I have spent the last 25 years in remission using a blend of conventional oncology and evidence-based nutrition, supplementation, and lifestyle therapies from peer-reviewed studies that your oncologist probably hasn't told you about.
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Myeloma Diagnosis Age 80 Plus
What do you do for a myeloma diagnosis for the age 80 plus year old person? This is to say that you or someone you love is diagnosed with multiple myeloma and they are 80 years old or more. You may be concerned that this person can’t handle conventional treatments such as chemotherapy.
You are probably correct in thinking that the 80 plus NDMM patient has very different priorities than the 50 or 60 year old NDMM.
I am a long-term MM survivor. The vast majority of oncologists treat MM the same whether for the 50 year old person or the 80 year old person.
I found the video below to do an excellent job of outlining the issues surrounding the elderly MM patient.
Treatment of the Elderly MM Patient- Considerations-
Keep in mind that conventional oncology and the FDA don’t study evidence-based non-conventional therapies such as anti-mm nutrition, supplementation or lifestyle therapies. Don’t be surprised if your oncologist does not include any non-conventional therapies in your therapy plan.
David Emerson
- MM Survivor
- MM Cancer Coach
- Director PeopleBeatingCancer
The characteristics, treatment patterns, and outcomes of older adults aged 80 and over with multiple myeloma
Objectives
Tremendous progress has been made in the treatment of multiple myeloma; however, the majority of this success has been demonstrated in younger patients. With 36% of patients >80 years-old at diagnosis, it is important to understand if older patients are receiving similar benefits.
Materials and methods
We identified 2155 patients diagnosed with myeloma at age 80 or older in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER)-Medicare database from 2007 to 2013. A cohort of 2933 similar patients diagnosed with myeloma at age 70–79 was used for comparison using a difference-in-differences design.
Results
Only 51% of patients >80 years-old at diagnosis received systemic anti-myeloma treatment. Treatment was associated with a 26% decrease in hazard for death, independent of age, race, gender, poverty, comorbidities, and proxy measures of performance status. In the 70–79 cohort, treatment was associated with a 22% decrease in hazard for death. Based on the difference-in-differences design, there is no statistically significant difference in treatment benefit based on age cohort (p = .610).
Conclusions
Anti-myeloma treatment produces a similar survival benefit among the oldest patients. The population over 80, when myeloma incidence peaks, is projected to triple over the next few decades. It is imperative that we continue to advance our understanding of the needs of this vulnerable subgroup of patients with myeloma.
Abstract
“Frailty, an age-related condition of increased vulnerability to acute endogenous or exogenous stressors, is a key barrier to successful treatment of cancer in older people. In this group of patients, assessment of frailty is required before starting a new treatment.
According to guidelines, the gold standard to assess frailty in older adults with cancer is geriatric screening followed by geriatric assessment (GA) across essential GA-domains (social status, physical function, nutrition, cognition, emotion, co-morbidity, polypharmacy).
GA enables tailoring of both oncological therapy and non-oncological interventions to the patient’s vulnerabilities. Large clinical trials recently have demonstrated that the feasibility and tolerability of systemic cancer treatment in older patients are significantly improved by such GA-guided management. Indications and optimal tools for frailty monitoring during the course of cancer treatment have not yet been defined in greater detail.
New technologies such as wearable sensors or apps offer promising new opportunities to further develop frailty monitoring. This review describes the current standards and perspectives for the assessment and monitoring of frailty in elderly patients with cancer…”
myeloma diagnosis for the age 80 plus myeloma diagnosis for the age 80 plus