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.
Click the orange button to the right to learn more about what you can start doing today.
An autologous stem cell transplant is standard-of-care for all newly diagnosed myeloma patients. The problem with autologous stem cell transplants is that they use the patient’s own stem cells which ensures that the MM will relapse.
When I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma I had an autologous stem cell transplant in 12/95. It put me into remission for less than a year.
I mention this because, as far as I’m concerned, an autologous transplant is child’s play next to an allogeneic bone marrow transplant.
Considering the risk of Graft vs. host disease, side effects, even death, I consider allo patients to look for every possible therapy, look for every possible advantage they can. The studies linked below talk about one such possible advantage.
The study linked and excerpted below is talking about allo (donor stem cells) not auto (your own stem cells).
According to the research linked below, not only is the physical locale of human stem cells important in the success of an allogeneic stem cell transplant but so is the conditioning of the stem cells. By conditioning I mean pre-habilitation. Nutrition, antioxidants, etc. before, during and after transplantation.
Your challenge is to choose the best hem./onc., working at the most experienced center (hospital), and choose the best procedure for the right risk/reward for you and your goals. All in a short period of time.
I am both a multiple myeloma cancer survivor and MM cancer coach. Have you been diagnosed with a multiple myeloma? Are you considering a bone marrow transplant? What questions do you have? Please scroll down the page, post a question or comment and I will reply ASAP.
Thanks
“Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is the transplantation of multipotent hematopoietic stem cells, usually derived from bone marrow, peripheral blood, or umbilical cord blood.[1][2] It may be autologous (the patient’s own stem cells are used), allogeneic (the stem cells come from a donor) or syngeneic (from an identical twin)…”
“Conclusion– Due to the lack of consistent survival benefit, allo-SCT should not be considered as a standard of care for newly diagnosed and relapsed standard-risk MM patients.
However, for patients with high-risk MM who have a poor long-term prognosis, allo-SCT may be a strong consideration in their initial course of therapy or in first relapse after chemotherapy, when the risk of disease progression may outweigh the transplant-related risks. A large number of prospective randomized controlled trials were needed to prove the benefits of these therapeutic options.
“McMaster University researchers have revealed the location of human blood stem cells that may improve bone marrow transplants. The best stem cells are at the ends of the bone…It is hoped this discovery will lead to lowering the amount of bone marrow needed for a donation while increasing regeneration and lessening rejection in the recipient patients…
In a paper published online today by the journal Cell Stem Cell, his team reports that human stem cells (HSC) residing in the end (trabecular region) of the bones display the highest regenerative ability of the blood and immune system…”
“Our results reveal that direct characterization of indigenous human HSCs within the bone of humans uncovers unique interactions and location propensities that control HSC capacity in vivo…”
“Discussion- Allo-SCT has been conducted in a large group of patients diagnosed with MM at our academic center, especially in relapsed/refractory situations in heavily pre-treated patients, mostly showing high-risk disease due to cytogenetic analysis and/or ISS.
We observed a high ORR of 70%, with a median PFS of 14.2 months and a median OS of 39.2 months.
Of note, only a moderate rate of high-grade GvHD occured. Survival was even better in patients with sufficient response to induction therapy (median OS, 65.0 months), and best in those treated within the first-line therapy (median OS not reached), independently of the time point of allo-SCT.
As survival curves reached a plateau, and late relapses rarely occurred, a possible long-term survival or even cure may be presumed for a subgroup of MM patients. There was no statistically significant difference in survival when comparing patients transplanted in first-line with standard risk and those with high, poor or ultra-high-risk cytogenetics according to the actual IMWG-consensus.30 Similar findings have been obtained in previous trials mostly distinguishing patients with or without detection of deletion 13q14,22 both results suggesting that high-risk cytogenetics may be overcome by allo-SCT.8,9,32–34
Available data from prior retrospective trials on allo-SCT in MM are inconsistent due to divergent therapeutic concepts and heterogeneous cohorts.4,35 Thus, comparison of survival and toxicity data is challenging…”