Monday, January 18 at 1:40pm - Jim

Someone asked about myeloma: Myeloma is an accumulation of malfunctioning or "cancerous" plasma cells. Cancer is a disorder characterized by transformation of normal cells to abnormal cells that grow and multiply uncontrollably. The net effect is the appearance of large numbers of abnormal cells capable of forming bodily masses, or tumors, with the capacity to advance locally and invade adjacent tissues and organs or spread either through the lymphatics or the blood vessels into distant organs. The ultimate effect of this "malignant" upheaval is erosion and organ dysfunction. Most plasma cells reside in the bone marrow, and myeloma, accordingly, usually occurs within the marrow-containing large bones of the body, such as the skull, vertebrae (spine), and hips.