This transcript has been edited for clarity.
Joseph Mikhael, MD: Hello. My name is Dr Joseph Mikhael, and welcome to Medscape InDiscussion: Multiple MyelomaToday we're talking about screening for early-stage multiple myeloma, and I think this is a particularly important topic. For so many years, we only defined myeloma as being present when patients had organ damage and the classic CRAB criteria (calcium elevation, renal insufficiency, anemia, and bone disease). But over the past several years, we've been changing that definition to try to catch the disease earlier. Sometimes I give this analogy because I'm a runner: If I'm running toward a cliff, hopefully someone will catch me before I fall off the cliff and run into trouble. And that's kind of what we've done with myeloma. We only used to define myeloma after someone had fallen off. But we want to catch patients earlier and earlier. Not too early, because maybe they'll never make it to the cliff, but early enough. And understanding that sweet spot is really the focus of our discussion today: when we should do so and how we should do so. My guest today is a world-known myeloma expert and also a very dear friend, Dr Irene Ghobrial. Dr Ghobrial is a professor at Harvard Medical School and is a hematologist at Dana-Farber, and she has dedicated much of her working career to understanding this field. So, welcome, Irene. It is always good to be with you.
