Management of patients with difficult-to-treat multiple myeloma.

Lay abstract New treatments have extended the lives of many patients with multiple myeloma (MM). Still, MM can sometimes be difficult to control. In some patients, their MM will return after a period of months or years (known as relapse). In others, treatment will need to be stopped or changed due to side effects. Changes to the myeloma cancer cells can sometimes cause a treatment to stop working (known as resistance). Other groups of patients with MM who can be hard to treat are those with a more aggressive type of myeloma called extramedullary disease, and those who are old or frail or have other illnesses. This paper summarizes a meeting of expert doctors at the 25th European Hematology Association Annual Congress 2020. They discussed how to select the best treatment for patients with MM whose condition is difficult to control. They also discussed new medicines that are being tested for the treatment of MM.