What are the early symptoms of multiple myeloma?

Multiple myeloma has a great impact on the patient's physical health, because myeloma is first and foremost a disease caused by the deterioration of plasma cells in the bone marrow. When plasma cells are destroyed, the body's immune system will have problems, so multiple myeloma needs to be detected and treated early. We can learn a little more about the symptoms of this disease.

1. Bone pain:

Myeloma cells proliferate malignantly in the bone marrow cavity, infiltrate bones and periosteum, affect the blood supply to the bone cortex, and osteoblasts derived from stromal cells overexpress IL6, activating osteoclasts, leading to osteoporosis and even osteolytic destruction. Therefore, bone pain is one of the first and most common symptoms. The most common site of pain is the lumbar sacral region (70%), followed by thoracic tumors involving the sternum or ribs (20%), and the pain worsens as the disease progresses.

(ii) Bone masses and pathological fractures:

Myeloma cells infiltrate from the bone marrow to the bone and periosteum, causing local mass-like protrusions that can range in size from soybeans to ping-pong balls, are as hard as rubber, and have no or only mild tenderness. It is often found in the sternum, ribs, skull, clavicle, shoulder bone, nasal bone and mandible.

Osteoporosis can cause pathological fractures. Sudden onset of severe pain often indicates pathological fractures, which often occur after activity or sprain, and are more common in compression fractures of the lower thoracic and upper lumbar vertebrae or spontaneous fractures of the ribs.

(III) Anemia and bleeding:

Myeloma cells proliferate in the bone marrow, and normal hematopoietic function is inhibited, leading to pancytopenia. Plasma volume due to renal insufficiency, decreased erythropoietin, secondary infection, and hyperviscosity caused by M-protein

Due to various factors such as increase in cholesterol, almost all patients have anemia to varying degrees. Decreased platelet production, interference of M-protein with platelet and coagulation system functions, and amyloidosis of vascular walls may all be important causes of bleeding. Suffer from

The symptoms are mostly mucosal and subcutaneous hemorrhage, and in the late stage there may be visceral and intracranial hemorrhage.

(IV) Susceptible to infection:

Because the abnormal monoclonal globulin lacks immune activity, the synthesis of normal immunoglobulins is inhibited or the decomposition is accelerated, resulting in C4 deficiency, humoral immunity deficiency, and later leukocytopenia with functional defects, making patients susceptible to infection, among which pneumonia is the most common. Shingles may also recur. Infection is the main cause of death from this disease.