Dr. Costello on Treatment Selection Considerations in Multiple Myeloma

Caitlin Costello, MD, hematologist/medical oncologist, assistant professor of medicine, University of California, San Diego ​Health, discusses treatment selection considerations in multiple myeloma.

Patient- and disease-specific disease factors should be considered when selecting the optimal up-front therapy for a patient with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, Costello says.

Age is solely a number and should not be the only consideration when it comes to treatment selection, Costello explains.

Performance status​ may inform what therapies a patient will tolerate and how aggressively they should be treated, Costello says.

Furthermore, the patient’s comorbidities, social support system, ​​and ability to travel to the infusion center should also be determined early on in treatment selection​, says Costello.

Additionally, deciding whether a patient is eligible to receive oral vs infusional therapy is needed, concludes Costello.