For Immediate Release
December 8, 2007 at 5:30 pm

 

BUFFALO, NY – Asher A. Chanan-Khan, MD, Department of Medicine, at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, will describe a unique method of determining the extent of multiple myeloma (MM) using magnetic resonance imaging of the bone marrow (BM-MRI), at the 49^th Annual Meeting & Exposition of the American Society of Hematology, December 8, at 5:30 pm*, in the Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, GA.

Treatment of MM – an incurable disease – is usually initiated when the tumor burden progressively increases and the patient has clinical symptoms. Tumor burden assessment is commonly done based on disease stage, the presence of lytic bone disease, and beta-2 microglobulin (B2M).

In earlier research, Dr. Chanan-Khan and colleagues investigated BM-MRI as a novel approach to quantify disease burden in MM patients, and observed that BM-MRI is more sensitive than BM aspirate/biopsy (BM-Bx) for assessing the extent of bone marrow involvement in MM patients.

In this study of 170 patients, the researchers established that the extent of marrow disease detected by BM-MRI correlates with the findings of the more conventional methods used to determine tumor burden in MM patients.

Dr. Chanan-Khan concludes from this investigation of a large cohort of patients that, “BM-MRI can be routinely used to determine disease burden in patients with MM and can be effectively employed in monitoring response to therapy.”

Roswell Park Cancer Institute, founded in 1898, is the nation’s first cancer research, treatment and education center and is the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in Upstate New York. RPCI is a member of the prestigious National Comprehensive Cancer Network, an alliance of the nation’s leading cancer centers. Roswell Park has affiliate sites and collaborative programs in New York, Pennsylvania, and in China. For more information, visit RPCI’s website at www.roswellpark.org, call 1-877-ASK-RPCI (1-877-275-7724) or e-mail askrpci@roswellpark.org.

 

*Dr. Chanan-Khan’s presentation (Abstract 1483) will be part of a Poster Session titled “Myeloma: Biology and Pathophysiology, excluding Therapy,” Board #637-I, Saturday, December 8, 5:30-7:30 pm.

 

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