Types of Multiple Myeloma

There are different types of multiple myeloma. These include:

Stage I Multiple Myeloma: This is the early stage of the disease where damage is done to only a single bone. It is a slow progressing variant of the disease and patients should be observed carefully to monitor the progress of the myeloma.
Active Myeloma: This type of myeloma includes stage II and stage III multiple myelomas. Patients with these types of myelomas have high levels of M protein and the disease can progress rapidly thus requiring urgent medical treatment.
Smoldering Myeloma: This type of myeloma is also known as indolent myeloma. The condition causes an increase in the levels of M protein in the blood as well as the levels of M plasma cells in the bone marrow. Smoldering myeloma is a slow developing disease and is not an aggressive form of cancer either.
Solitary Plasmocytoma: Standard multiple myeloma generally has multiple tumors on different sites all over the body. In solitary plasmocytoma, there is only one tumor found in a bone. Patients with this type of the condition however fall into a high-risk category for developing multiple myeloma and should be tested often and observed carefully.