COMy 2017 | What impact have new minimal residual disease (MRD) assessment techniques had in myeloma?
Nikhil Munshi, MD, from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, discusses the impact of new minimal residual disease (MRD) assessment techniques at the 2017 World Congress on Controversies in Multiple Myeloma (COMy) in Paris, France. He explains that MRD is an important measurement at all stages of myeloma in the clinical setting, and describes how the number of myeloma cells decreases when patients are in remission. Prof. Munshi highlights that new methods of MRD detection are able to identify lower levels of remaining myeloma cells, allowing the depth of response to be determined more accurately. According to Prof. Munshi, the focus now is on achieving MRD negativity, which is linked to better patient outcomes regardless of how it is reached.
