Future developments

Despite all of the advances in testing for prognostic factors, it is still difficult to accurately predict the prognosis for an individual patient. Even if some patients have ‘poor’ prognostic factors, they may respond well to treatment and have long remissions.

Further research into the biology of myeloma and clinical trials into prognostic factors and the use of newer systems such as the R2-ISS, will provide a greater knowledge of how different subgroups of patients respond to treatments. As testing becomes more reliable and available, the hope is that myeloma patients can be staged and risk stratified more accurately, allowing a more tailored treatment approach.