Smilow Shares with Primary Care: Gammopathies
July 01, 2025May 6, 2025
Presentations by: Drs. Andrew Cutney, Sabrina Browning, and Noffar Bar
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- 13273
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Transcript
- 00:00Get started. Welcome to SmiloShares
- 00:03with Primary Care.
- 00:05Just an introduction
- 00:06to this series.
- 00:08Smilo Shares with Primary Care
- 00:10is a collaboration
- 00:11between primary care and oncology
- 00:14here at Yale. I'm Karen
- 00:16Brown, a primary care internist,
- 00:17and I work with Anne
- 00:19Chang, an oncologist
- 00:20and the associate cancer center
- 00:22director for clinical initiatives.
- 00:24We are happy to present
- 00:25today's topic, which is gammopathies.
- 00:29Our perspective
- 00:30in cancer care is distinct
- 00:32in primary care. We're constantly
- 00:34providing advice to prevent cancer,
- 00:37testing to screen for cancer,
- 00:38testing for cancer, and fortunately,
- 00:41far less often, actually finding
- 00:43new cancer.
- 00:44Diagnosing a new cancer, whether
- 00:46by screening or due to
- 00:48a patient complaint, is a
- 00:49time where we want to
- 00:49be as efficient as possible
- 00:51to get our patients to
- 00:52the treatment they need. We
- 00:53are delighted that doctor Chang
- 00:55and our oncology colleagues are
- 00:56interested
- 00:57and willing to explore this
- 00:59interface of care with us
- 01:00in this series.
- 01:02During the talk, please feel
- 01:03free to enter your questions
- 01:05into the chat,
- 01:07and we will,
- 01:09look at those at at
- 01:10the end of the talk.
- 01:11We'll we'll try to save
- 01:12some time.
- 01:14I'd like to introduce my
- 01:16primary care colleague, doctor Drew
- 01:18Cutney.
- 01:19Doctor Cutney is board certified
- 01:21in internal medicine and pediatrics
- 01:23and a very valuable member
- 01:25of our Northeast Medical Group
- 01:27primary care community.
- 01:29My own first memory of
- 01:30him is he knew how
- 01:31to use Epic better than
- 01:33anybody else,
- 01:34before anybody else did.
- 01:37He practices,
- 01:38he's been with us since
- 01:40two thousand and eight and
- 01:41primary care in Trumbull, Connecticut
- 01:43at the Park
- 01:45Avenue Medical Center. And I'll
- 01:47turn it over to you
- 01:48and to introduce our other
- 01:49panelists.
- 01:51Great. Thanks so much for
- 01:52joining us tonight and for
- 01:54continuing to access this series
- 01:56online.
- 01:59And, I have the honor
- 02:00of introducing the hematologists
- 02:03tonight that are joining us,
- 02:04doctor,
- 02:05Sabrina
- 02:06Browning.
- 02:07That's on the right. She
- 02:08is assistant professor of medicine
- 02:11in hematology, and she received
- 02:13her medical degree from Yukon.
- 02:16And then her internship and
- 02:17residency completed at Yale New
- 02:19Haven
- 02:20Hospital. After residency, she served
- 02:22as an amyloid fellow
- 02:24at the internationally
- 02:25recognized,
- 02:26amyloidis
- 02:27amyloidosis
- 02:29center at BU,
- 02:31in Boston Medical Center. And
- 02:33then she returned to Yale
- 02:34New Haven Hospital to complete
- 02:36her her fellowship
- 02:38in medical oncology and hematology.
- 02:41She's a physician in the
- 02:42Smiling Multiple Myeloma and Gammopathies
- 02:45program, and her clinical and
- 02:46research interests
- 02:48include evaluating new treatments for
- 02:50multiple myeloma,
- 02:52amyloidosis,
- 02:53and other hematologic
- 02:54diseases.
- 02:57Also, I would like to
- 02:58introduce doctor Nofar Bahr, who's
- 02:59an assistant professor of medicine
- 03:01and hematology
- 03:02at the Yale School of
- 03:04Medicine. She completed her internship
- 03:06and residency
- 03:07at the, at the Mount
- 03:09Sinai hospital and her fellowship
- 03:10at Yale,
- 03:12and received her medical degree
- 03:14from the American medical program
- 03:15at Tel Aviv university in
- 03:17New York. She's a member
- 03:18of ASCO, the American Society
- 03:20of Hematology,
- 03:21the International Myeloma Society,
- 03:24and her research is focused
- 03:25on multiple myeloma
- 03:27and other plasma cell disorders.
- 03:30And she specializes in all
- 03:32treatment modalities for myeloma, including
- 03:34CAR T
- 03:35cell therapy and stem cell
- 03:37transplant. She'll talk a little
- 03:38bit about those as, well
- 03:40tonight. So we've got a
- 03:42great program,
- 03:44for you tonight.
- 03:46Save up your questions.
- 03:48You always have some excellent
- 03:50ones, and I will now
- 03:52turn it over to doctor
- 03:54Barr to sort of set
- 03:55us up with, what we're
- 03:56gonna do tonight. Thank you.
- 03:59Thank you, Anne.
- 04:01And thank you for having
- 04:02us.
- 04:03Today,
- 04:04some of the key points
- 04:05I wanna highlight
- 04:07is reviewing the reference ranges
- 04:09for,
- 04:10serum free light chains, and
- 04:12this could be, affected by
- 04:13age and renal dysfunction.
- 04:15Second, discuss some of the
- 04:16differences between IgA, IG,
- 04:19sorry, IgG, IgA versus IgM
- 04:22monoclonal gammopathies.
- 04:24Define low risk MGUS and
- 04:25discuss how this could be
- 04:27managed by the primary care
- 04:28physician.
- 04:29Discuss some red flags,
- 04:31that warrant more urgent referral
- 04:34to hematology.
- 04:35And also review this, EPIC
- 04:37monoclonal gammopathy
- 04:39pathway we've developed recently
- 04:41and provide,
- 04:42hopefully, you can provide us
- 04:43some feedback over time.
- 04:46So to begin, I wanna
- 04:47start with some background.
- 04:49And monoclonal gammopathies on for
- 04:51the most part, are driven
- 04:53by clonal or abnormal plasma
- 04:56cells within the bone marrow,
- 04:57and they secrete a monoclonal
- 04:59protein called an m spike
- 05:01or m protein
- 05:03as I show you here.
- 05:04And this is a picture
- 05:05of, either an IgG or
- 05:07an IgA.
- 05:08And you can see that
- 05:09a part of the whole
- 05:10antibody
- 05:11is also the the light
- 05:13genes, which is important.
- 05:16I'm I mentioned that most
- 05:17gammopathies are from plasma cells.
- 05:19There are several gammopathies that
- 05:20originate from b cells, clonal
- 05:22b cells, but for the
- 05:23most part, plasma cells.
- 05:26Now when you're thinking about
- 05:28a monoclonal gammopathy,
- 05:30this is the pair protein,
- 05:31evaluation.
- 05:33We do a serum protein
- 05:34electrophoresis,
- 05:35and I show you here
- 05:36what would be normal on
- 05:37the left and on the
- 05:39right, an abnormal spike in
- 05:40the gamma region.
- 05:42There is some differences with
- 05:44gammopathies. For example, IGAs often
- 05:47come in the beta region
- 05:48over here if you see
- 05:49this. And you see the
- 05:51two spikes that actually makes
- 05:52it a little bit more
- 05:53difficult,
- 05:54and often underrepresents
- 05:57IgA gammopathy, so just some
- 05:58key points there.
- 06:00The immunofixation
- 06:02below
- 06:03identifies
- 06:03the clone. Okay? So the
- 06:05SBAP quantifies it. The immunofixation
- 06:08identifies for example, here we
- 06:09see an IgG kappa.
- 06:11In addition to this, we
- 06:12also need to have a
- 06:13serum free,
- 06:15light chains.
- 06:16We do not check urine
- 06:17free light chains anymore.
- 06:19And,
- 06:20the importance of this one,
- 06:21it helps us with, some
- 06:23risk stratification diagnosis myeloma, but,
- 06:26also, there's a few patients,
- 06:28about twenty percent of myeloma,
- 06:30that
- 06:31presents only with light chain
- 06:33secretions.
- 06:34So you might miss a
- 06:35diagnosis of a if you're
- 06:37not checking the light chains.
- 06:39Additionally, it's important to note,
- 06:41and this is kind of
- 06:42not something you think about,
- 06:43but different labs have different
- 06:46ranges of,
- 06:48abnormalities
- 06:49be because the the
- 06:51units are different. So for
- 06:53example, Yale uses milligrams per
- 06:55deciliter, but Quest, which some
- 06:57of our our patients use,
- 06:59uses milligrams per liter.
- 07:01So, like, sixty
- 07:02at Quest is six at
- 07:04Yale. So that's important to
- 07:06recognize, and some patients will
- 07:07say, oh my god. Eighty.
- 07:08But it's really eight.
- 07:10So it's important to compare
- 07:13apples and apples and not
- 07:14apples and oranges.
- 07:17The definition of abnormal light
- 07:20chain ratio depends on age.
- 07:22And here is some information
- 07:24from a recent analysis
- 07:26in Iceland
- 07:27where they are testing everyone
- 07:29for monoclonal gammopathy,
- 07:31and they saw that patients
- 07:32who are older tend to
- 07:34have a higher light chain
- 07:35ratio. As you can see
- 07:36here, the higher end is
- 07:38two point five and is
- 07:39a reference range of what's
- 07:41normal in our lab is
- 07:42one point six five.
- 07:45Additionally,
- 07:46creatinine clearance affects light chain
- 07:48ratios. You can see with
- 07:49that lower creatinine clearance or
- 07:52worse renal function, the ratio
- 07:55gets higher at three point
- 07:57three. So when you have
- 07:58someone
- 08:00with, normal IFE and a
- 08:01light chain ratio of two
- 08:03point five, well, it is
- 08:05abnormal in our lab.
- 08:07If they're older or have
- 08:08renal dysfunction, it might actually
- 08:09be normal.
- 08:11So this is, the most
- 08:13this is the spectrum of
- 08:14monoclonal gammopathies.
- 08:16It's not all inclusive, but
- 08:17it's representing the most common
- 08:19gammopathies.
- 08:20You can see here at
- 08:21the end,
- 08:23multiple myeloma, which is the
- 08:24cancer.
- 08:25But on
- 08:27the the right is the
- 08:28mono the first or initial
- 08:30precursor state of what we
- 08:32call MGUS, monoclonal gammopathy of
- 08:35undetermined significance.
- 08:37And then it goes through
- 08:38an intermediary
- 08:39stage of smoldering myeloma,
- 08:41with both of these, MGUS
- 08:43and smoldering, another name for
- 08:44smoldering, asymptomatic
- 08:46myeloma, these are precursor states
- 08:48and are not representing cancer
- 08:50and do not need to
- 08:51be treated. And these do
- 08:52not have CRAP criteria, which
- 08:54we'll talk about soon.
- 08:57The major difference when you're
- 08:58evaluating the bone marrow in
- 08:59these patients and part of
- 09:01the diagnosis
- 09:02is that there are less
- 09:04clonal plasma cells with MGUS
- 09:05and more clonal plasma cells
- 09:07with smoldering,
- 09:08less than ten or more
- 09:10than ten percent. And what's
- 09:11relevant for the patient is
- 09:13the risk for progression.
- 09:15One percent with MGUS,
- 09:16ten percent
- 09:17on average per year with
- 09:19smoldering.
- 09:21So I think most of
- 09:23you know that the definition
- 09:25of myeloma
- 09:26requires a clonal plasma cell
- 09:27clone of, clonal plasma cells
- 09:29on the bone marrow of
- 09:30more than ten percent in
- 09:32addition to
- 09:33one or more of the
- 09:35CRAP criteria, including
- 09:36high calcium level, renal insufficiency,
- 09:39anemia, and bony disease.
- 09:41However, about a decade ago
- 09:43now, the definition of myeloma
- 09:45actually changed,
- 09:47And now we have what's
- 09:48called the slim crab.
- 09:50So for those of you
- 09:51who don't know what the
- 09:51slim crab criteria is, I
- 09:53like to go backwards to
- 09:55review the spectrum of gammopathies
- 09:57to really understand where the
- 09:59slim crab came from.
- 10:00And here you can see
- 10:02that the clonal the the
- 10:04smoldering myeloma is actually a
- 10:05very heterogeneous group of patients.
- 10:08While on average, ten percent
- 10:10progressed to myeloma. There are
- 10:12some patients that behave like
- 10:14MGUS and will never progress,
- 10:16and some patients progress within
- 10:18one to two years and
- 10:19probably should be diagnosed as
- 10:21myeloma. And that is exactly
- 10:23where the slim criteria came
- 10:24from. Researchers identified
- 10:26factors
- 10:28that led to a risk
- 10:29of progression of myeloma
- 10:31at two years at eighty
- 10:34percent.
- 10:35And they said, we are
- 10:36this is unacceptable,
- 10:37and patients should be treated
- 10:38for myeloma. And this is
- 10:40sixty percent clonal plasma cells
- 10:42in the bone marrow or
- 10:43more, a light chain ratio
- 10:45over a hundred,
- 10:46and having
- 10:47more than one bony lesion
- 10:49on advanced imaging, like whole
- 10:51body MRI, PET scan.
- 10:55So with that,
- 10:57we will
- 10:58move forward to our cases.
- 11:02Thanks, Nafoor.
- 11:04So before we get into
- 11:05this case, just wanna give
- 11:07a brief,
- 11:10context of the four case
- 11:11that I'm gonna bring in,
- 11:12and and these are all
- 11:13cases from a panel.
- 11:16They're relatively fresh, which means
- 11:17that they they're they're either
- 11:18a new diagnosis of of
- 11:20monoclonal,
- 11:21gammopathy or it's a new
- 11:23patient to me that I
- 11:24had to get to know
- 11:26or it it's either
- 11:29a change in the clinical
- 11:30status that,
- 11:32has happened recently.
- 11:34And the one thing I
- 11:36just wanna,
- 11:37have you pay attention to
- 11:38is, you know, pay attention
- 11:39to crab cure crab criterias.
- 11:41We go through go through
- 11:42the cases,
- 11:44but, also,
- 11:45they don't fit a hundred
- 11:46percent by the book,
- 11:48necessarily. And I think that
- 11:50goes along with a lot
- 11:51of patients that we see.
- 11:52We're we're always, trying to,
- 11:57figure out
- 11:59what's going on from noise.
- 12:02And,
- 12:03their diseases vary,
- 12:04and don't go go by
- 12:06our
- 12:08strict criteria a hundred percent
- 12:10all the time. And but
- 12:11they do represent key points
- 12:12and pearls. So what that's
- 12:14what, with that, we'll jump
- 12:16into our first case. And,
- 12:18this is a fifty year
- 12:19old Hispanic female that was
- 12:21new to me in in
- 12:22twenty twenty one. And for
- 12:24the most part, she was,
- 12:26it was well known that
- 12:27she had MS,
- 12:28that was diagnosed in twenty
- 12:29nineteen,
- 12:31and we talked about that
- 12:32quite a bit.
- 12:33She had presented with incapacitating
- 12:35migraines at that point with
- 12:37vertigo, which prompted the MRI
- 12:40and,
- 12:41confirmed a diagnosis. And she
- 12:42started on Ocrevus,
- 12:46which is, for therapy every
- 12:47six months and had no
- 12:49disease progression and it was
- 12:50otherwise stable.
- 12:52Her her history, otherwise, is
- 12:54noncontributory.
- 12:55She had a cervical fusion,
- 12:58in twenty seventeen,
- 13:00and she had a c
- 13:01section nineteen ninety four.
- 13:03Her family history
- 13:05was notable just for hypertension,
- 13:07hyperlipidemia,
- 13:08heart disease, and substance
- 13:10addiction,
- 13:11and she herself was married.
- 13:14She had a son.
- 13:16She worked in an office
- 13:17setting. She, had a ten
- 13:19pack year tobacco history, but
- 13:21had quit in twenty eleven,
- 13:23and she's locally,
- 13:25born and raised.
- 13:27Next slide.
- 13:29And so in the fall
- 13:31last fall in twenty twenty
- 13:32four, she came to me
- 13:34with six months of a
- 13:36chronic cough
- 13:37and this persistent,
- 13:41you know, frequent, really recurrent,
- 13:43bilateral
- 13:44otitis externa where her ears
- 13:46or her external ears were
- 13:47just swollen closed,
- 13:49very tender,
- 13:51really hurting. And she was
- 13:53at her wit's end,
- 13:54not only from the ears,
- 13:55but she had this cough
- 13:56that was relentless. A lot
- 13:57of abdominal pain, couldn't sleep,
- 13:59this dry cough, you know,
- 14:04just
- 14:05unmitigating.
- 14:06And she had seen neurology,
- 14:08ear, nose, and throat and
- 14:10immunology for these things.
- 14:13And, when she was coming
- 14:14to me, she was asking
- 14:15me a lot of questions
- 14:16about that workup. So the
- 14:18SAR, we looked at the
- 14:19cough, looked like a it
- 14:21turned out to be a
- 14:21really strong GERD trigger,
- 14:24and
- 14:26some allergic postnasal drip. So
- 14:28we addressed that. And then
- 14:29the the recurrent otitis through
- 14:31some Pseudomonas and,
- 14:34you know, sensitive staph oxycelin
- 14:36sensitive staph, and we just
- 14:38treated those
- 14:39accordingly. We got the cough
- 14:41under, control. In the years,
- 14:43we we had a regimen
- 14:44that that
- 14:45settled down.
- 14:47But during the subspecialty evaluation,
- 14:50she was found to have,
- 14:52so, suppressed b cell
- 14:54presence under flow cytometry,
- 14:57and she had a low
- 14:58I g g two subclass.
- 15:02And then, they they challenged
- 15:03that with a
- 15:05pneumococcal
- 15:06conjugate
- 15:08vaccine and it and it
- 15:10and and no antibody responded.
- 15:13So the the theory was
- 15:15that this was from her
- 15:16ocrevus,
- 15:17the suppressing her b cell
- 15:18colonies, and that in turn
- 15:20was
- 15:22causing return
- 15:23recurrent otitis externus.
- 15:26The interesting thing here is
- 15:28that on her SPEP and
- 15:29her immunofixation,
- 15:32she had an IgA kappa
- 15:35monoclonal protein. So next slide.
- 15:39And, you know, the key
- 15:41points to eval is that
- 15:42she had she's not anemic.
- 15:44She had good new, renal
- 15:45function. She had noble calcium
- 15:47levels.
- 15:47There are no discrete monoclonal
- 15:49bands identified on the SPEP.
- 15:52But
- 15:53on the immunofixation,
- 15:55there were,
- 15:56there was IgA cap identified
- 15:58in three monoclonal components in
- 16:00that beta region that doctor
- 16:02Barr had mentioned earlier.
- 16:04And she had low immunoglobulin
- 16:06levels, IgA and IgG two,
- 16:10and she had elevated
- 16:11kappa
- 16:12light chain with an elevated
- 16:14ratio of three point nine
- 16:15five.
- 16:17She was seeing and this
- 16:18was this was kinda known
- 16:19to me, and then she
- 16:20was unprocessed going to hematology,
- 16:22went to hematology, got the
- 16:23bone marrow biopsy,
- 16:25and that came back with
- 16:26a less than ten percent
- 16:27clonal plasma cell.
- 16:29And,
- 16:31for further discussion, we have
- 16:33doctor Browning. Great. Thank you
- 16:35very much. So, you know,
- 16:37I think this is a
- 16:38a great case.
- 16:39You know, I think with
- 16:40this, patient
- 16:42appropriately in the setting of
- 16:43hypogammaglobulinemia
- 16:44and increased frequency of infections,
- 16:47both of which can occur,
- 16:48across the spectrum of monoclonal
- 16:50gammopathy. She had this pair
- 16:51of protein identified.
- 16:53And if you can advance
- 16:54the slide.
- 16:55So importantly,
- 16:56what we wanna talk through
- 16:58is what the patient's diagnosis
- 16:59is, and we'll go through
- 17:01the spectrum of monoclonal gammopathy.
- 17:03Again, she had a bone
- 17:04marrow biopsy showing less than
- 17:05ten percent clonal plasma cells,
- 17:07which in the absence of
- 17:08end organ damage is consistent
- 17:10with MGUS.
- 17:11So she had an IgA
- 17:12kappa MGUS. And we'll talk
- 17:13a little bit about
- 17:14when we think about doing
- 17:15a bone marrow and skeletal
- 17:17imaging and what type of
- 17:18skeletal imaging we are choosing
- 17:19now for our patients with
- 17:20MGUS.
- 17:21As already mentioned,
- 17:23IgA gamopathies
- 17:25are unique
- 17:27in a couple of different
- 17:28ways.
- 17:29The first being where we
- 17:30see the band migrating on
- 17:32the SPEP,
- 17:33in the beta region as
- 17:34opposed to the gamma region,
- 17:36which is where we see,
- 17:37the majority of our monoclonal
- 17:38gamopathies or monoclonal proteins.
- 17:41And this may underestimate
- 17:43the, burden of,
- 17:45clonal plasma cells in the
- 17:46bone marrow. And so,
- 17:48with an IgA MGUS, it's
- 17:49important to remember, and we'll
- 17:50talk through why, you know,
- 17:52we never really refer to
- 17:53an IgA MGUS or an
- 17:54IgA gammopathy as low risk.
- 17:59So this scheme, again, you've
- 18:00seen,
- 18:02illustrates the spectrum of monoclonal
- 18:04gammopathy
- 18:04importantly,
- 18:05in our patient's case. If
- 18:07you can advance,
- 18:09Nofar, she had less than
- 18:10ten percent clonal plasma cells
- 18:12consistent with an MGUS with
- 18:14a one percent risk per
- 18:15year of progressing to myeloma.
- 18:17We could go to the
- 18:17next slide.
- 18:19So this table outlines,
- 18:20in further detail the definition
- 18:22of MGUS.
- 18:23Importantly, with non IgM MGUS
- 18:26and light chain MGUS,
- 18:27the risk of progression is
- 18:29to multiple myeloma or, light
- 18:31chain or AL amyloidosis.
- 18:32And this is as,
- 18:34indifferent from an IgM MGUS
- 18:37where if patients progress,
- 18:39the majority of the time,
- 18:40they progress to a a
- 18:41lymphoplasmacytic
- 18:42lymphoma or what we refer
- 18:43to as Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia
- 18:46with an IGM
- 18:47IGM myeloma being very rare.
- 18:50And, as you can see
- 18:51across all three of these,
- 18:53importantly,
- 18:54the clonal,
- 18:55bone marrow cells are less
- 18:56than ten percent.
- 18:58With non IgM MGUS and
- 19:00IgM MGUS serum m protein
- 19:01is less than three grams.
- 19:03And with light chain MGUS,
- 19:04we see an abnormal light
- 19:05chain ratio and a urine
- 19:07monoclonal protein less than five
- 19:08hundred milligrams on a twenty
- 19:09four hour urine.
- 19:11And, as you can see
- 19:12here on the table with
- 19:13IgM MGUS, there may at
- 19:14least initially be a slightly
- 19:16higher risk of progression,
- 19:18compared to the non IgM
- 19:19MGUS and the light chain,
- 19:20a little bit lower.
- 19:22And we could go to
- 19:22the next slide.
- 19:24So historically, the prevalence of
- 19:27MGUS in individuals over the
- 19:28age of fifty has been
- 19:30reported at three
- 19:31percent. Doctor Barr mentioned that
- 19:33there's a large population,
- 19:36population screening study that was
- 19:38performed in Iceland where approximately
- 19:40seventy five thousand, individuals were
- 19:42screened for monoclonal gammopathy.
- 19:44And the prevalence that came
- 19:45out of that study was
- 19:46a bit higher at five
- 19:47percent of individuals over the
- 19:48age of fifty. And that
- 19:49was that was called the
- 19:50I ISTOP, my study, which
- 19:53occurred in Iceland.
- 19:55Importantly, MGUS can occur up
- 19:57to four times more,
- 19:59is four times more common
- 20:00in black or African American
- 20:02individuals, and the prevalence may
- 20:03be high in that population.
- 20:05And then we talked about
- 20:06the uniqueness of IgA
- 20:08type gammopathy.
- 20:10It it has been shown
- 20:11in studies to potentially rise
- 20:13more slowly through the prevalence
- 20:15of it rising more slowly
- 20:16with age,
- 20:17although it's thought to be
- 20:18associated with more rapid progression.
- 20:20And in that same
- 20:21large,
- 20:22population screening study, the iStop
- 20:24M study,
- 20:26the investigators
- 20:27looked at, patients with IgA
- 20:29MGUS and compared to them
- 20:30to IgG MGUS and found
- 20:32that those with IgA
- 20:33had a a higher frequency
- 20:35of detecting clonal or abnormal
- 20:37plasma cells in the bone
- 20:38marrow.
- 20:40And so, again, we talked
- 20:41about how with IgA,
- 20:43the m protein may not
- 20:44be a true reflection of
- 20:46the disease burden. And so
- 20:47it's really important to look
- 20:48at IgA levels, serum free
- 20:50light chains, and we'll talk
- 20:51about further workup for our
- 20:52IgA gamopathies.
- 20:54So important when we're considering,
- 20:57the need for additional workup
- 20:59for MGUS,
- 21:01is,
- 21:02risk stratifying. And so we
- 21:03do that,
- 21:04with these three, different factors.
- 21:07Individuals who have an IgG
- 21:09type monoclonal gammopathy, a serum
- 21:11and protein in the, in
- 21:13the serum less than one
- 21:14point five grams in normal
- 21:15light chain,
- 21:16meet the criteria for low
- 21:18risk MGUS. And generally in
- 21:19these patients, we, in the
- 21:21absence of any evidence of
- 21:23the slim crab criteria or
- 21:24end organ damage, we are
- 21:26able to, withhold bone marrow
- 21:27biopsy aspiration and skeletal imaging.
- 21:29And there has been studies
- 21:31looking at this
- 21:32and show in those that
- 21:33meet all three criteria,
- 21:35if we do do not
- 21:36do a bone marrow, we
- 21:37miss less than one percent
- 21:39of patients that could have
- 21:40clinical or active myeloma. And
- 21:42this,
- 21:43show it has shown in
- 21:44studies also that this population
- 21:46has an absolute risk of
- 21:47progression at twenty years. It's
- 21:49very low at two percent.
- 21:51Now all those that don't
- 21:52meet these criteria, we refer
- 21:53to as non risk, gammopathy.
- 21:55And these are patients where,
- 21:57we definitely want to at
- 21:59least see them in the
- 21:59hematology clinic to discuss
- 22:01whether or not they warrant
- 22:02a bone marrow biopsy,
- 22:04and skeletal image. And and
- 22:05historically for MGUS,
- 22:07for many years, we had
- 22:08been using skeletal surveys, which
- 22:09we know now have very
- 22:10poor sensitivity and specificity. And
- 22:12so guideline recommendations is is
- 22:14instead to use a low
- 22:15dose whole body CT, which
- 22:17we now have available,
- 22:19at the York Street campus
- 22:20for our patients.
- 22:22So in summary, in individuals
- 22:23who have a confirmed MGUS,
- 22:25whether that's a low risk
- 22:26MGUS,
- 22:27who don't warrant any further
- 22:29workup or patients who have
- 22:31a bone marrow biopsy and
- 22:32are found to have less
- 22:33than ten percent clonal plasma
- 22:34cells,
- 22:35our management,
- 22:36is observation and clinical,
- 22:38laboratory follow-up every six months
- 22:40initially in those patients who
- 22:42may be more stable
- 22:43over a longer period of
- 22:44time. We sometimes extend that
- 22:46out, to annual follow-up.
- 22:50So before we move to
- 22:51the next case, I wanted
- 22:51to introduce our SMILO multiple
- 22:53myeloma and gammopathies program,
- 22:55which,
- 22:56includes, in addition to doctor
- 22:58Barr and myself, doctor Natalia
- 22:59Neparizzi, doctor Terry Parker, and
- 23:01doctor Elaine Gorshine,
- 23:03who sees patients in at
- 23:04our SMILO North Haven location
- 23:06and Smilo Guilford.
- 23:08Many of you may be
- 23:09familiar,
- 23:09through Yale Medicine with the
- 23:11hematology eConsult program,
- 23:13that I think may be
- 23:15a good option specifically for
- 23:16patients who who have low
- 23:18risk MGUS or a question
- 23:19of light chain abnormality
- 23:21either due to age or
- 23:22CKD or a question of
- 23:24polyclonal gammopathy, which we didn't
- 23:26talk much about, but can
- 23:27be associated with, liver disease
- 23:29or chronic infection, connective tissue
- 23:31disorders, and importantly does not
- 23:32have any risk of progression
- 23:34to myeloma or other plasma
- 23:36cell dyscrasias.
- 23:37And then we also hold
- 23:38an MGUS clinic monthly,
- 23:40at our Smilow North Haven
- 23:41location, and, patients,
- 23:44in that clinic,
- 23:45usually are low risk MGUS
- 23:47or kind of less complicated
- 23:48MGUS patients, and the referral
- 23:49to that clinic is through
- 23:50the same referral process to
- 23:52our, gamopathies program.
- 23:55And so I'll turn it
- 23:56back over to doctor Kuttney.
- 23:58Great.
- 23:59Thank you, Sabrina. I think,
- 24:01those are some good pearls
- 24:03there. I love them.
- 24:04So this next case will,
- 24:07look at a sixty nine
- 24:09year old,
- 24:10male,
- 24:11with who came to me
- 24:12in the fall of last
- 24:14year as well,
- 24:16with per like, a progressive
- 24:18distal neuropathy,
- 24:20at least, over the you
- 24:22know,
- 24:23described as pins and needles
- 24:25in the feet and the
- 24:26hands.
- 24:27He described it as being
- 24:28his feet more than his
- 24:29hands and his left foot
- 24:30more than his right foot.
- 24:31And it was particularly worse
- 24:33in the evening with walking,
- 24:35and,
- 24:36there's absolutely no weakness,
- 24:39and you couldn't really identify,
- 24:41you know,
- 24:42exactly when or or how
- 24:43it had emerged. It was
- 24:44just something that just kind
- 24:46of slowly developed.
- 24:48And
- 24:49this past medical history is
- 24:51significant for a p c
- 24:52PBC induced cardiomyopathy,
- 24:56diagnosed in two thousand five,
- 24:58which progressed to, you know,
- 25:00paroxysmal,
- 25:01and atrial fibrillation in in
- 25:03twenty fourteen.
- 25:04They thought that was due
- 25:05to his, he he was
- 25:07a very high volume runner
- 25:09at the time. And,
- 25:11he was successfully ablated,
- 25:14and wanted to it's held
- 25:16in sinus
- 25:17rhythm since.
- 25:18His ulcer he did get
- 25:20diagnosed in twenty eleven with
- 25:21ulcerative colitis,
- 25:23and he was being managed
- 25:25with, Lialda four point eight
- 25:26grams per,
- 25:28deciliter
- 25:29sorry. Per day. I'm sorry.
- 25:32Yeah. He was a frequent
- 25:34sport shooter with the
- 25:36lead exposure,
- 25:37from intending
- 25:38the indoor shooting range,
- 25:40and, his serum level lead
- 25:42level,
- 25:43was on baseline,
- 25:45twenty to twenty five,
- 25:47since we started checking it.
- 25:49He stopped attending that indoor
- 25:50range in twenty nineteen.
- 25:52And he was also
- 25:54at the time when I,
- 25:55you know, saw him for
- 25:56this neuropathy symptoms, he was
- 25:57taking a lot of zinc
- 25:58for his ulcerative
- 26:00colitis for whatever reason.
- 26:02Next slide.
- 26:06Other comorbid included
- 26:07some,
- 26:08BPH,
- 26:09you know, prostatic
- 26:11hyperplasia,
- 26:12and some tinnitus.
- 26:14He had,
- 26:15a couple of meniscus surgeries
- 26:17in the two thousands. I
- 26:19think both knees were affected.
- 26:21And, he's a software developer.
- 26:23He played the electric guitar,
- 26:24hence his tinnitus and, a
- 26:26little social alcohol, no elicits.
- 26:29He's married, three kids,
- 26:31distant smoking history, small amount,
- 26:34seven pack years. Spent a
- 26:35lot of time out
- 26:37outdoors.
- 26:38On the note on the
- 26:39family history,
- 26:41Crohn's disease and dementia, his
- 26:42mother and his father had
- 26:43type two diabetes, and his
- 26:45brother had Crohn's disease. And
- 26:47his sister,
- 26:48was suspected to have a
- 26:49non Hodgkin's lymphoma. I can
- 26:51really confirm
- 26:53the the details on that.
- 26:54And then we did an
- 26:55evaluation
- 26:56for his neuropathy.
- 26:59And
- 27:01the
- 27:02the
- 27:03notables are, like, you know,
- 27:05no anemia, normal creatinine, normal
- 27:07calcium.
- 27:08He had no no monoclonal
- 27:10bands on the SPEP.
- 27:12He had an IgA Lambda,
- 27:15that presented on the immunopixation
- 27:18and normal immunoglobulins,
- 27:21and then his,
- 27:23light chain,
- 27:26his lambda light chain of
- 27:27sixty one point two with
- 27:29a,
- 27:30a significantly decreased ratio
- 27:33of zero point zero three
- 27:35was there. And then end
- 27:36of note two, he had
- 27:37this Lyme antibody that was
- 27:40quite high at four point
- 27:42zero.
- 27:44I treated him for Lyme
- 27:46disease.
- 27:47Symptoms didn't change,
- 27:48so I repeated the,
- 27:50the serum free limed,
- 27:52light chains again because, hey,
- 27:54maybe they they got better,
- 27:55but they didn't.
- 27:58And,
- 27:59it referred them on to
- 28:00hematology.
- 28:02And he, you really he
- 28:03went on and got a
- 28:04bone marrow biopsy, and you
- 28:05had ten percent plasma cells
- 28:07with the
- 28:08lambda restriction.
- 28:10And
- 28:12we have a you know,
- 28:15and for discussion, we'll go
- 28:16back to doctor Browning. Great.
- 28:18Thank you. So I think
- 28:19what
- 28:20the difference we're seeing here
- 28:21compared to the first case
- 28:23is that this patient does
- 28:24have ten percent, clonal plasma
- 28:26cells in the bone marrow,
- 28:28which qualifies for at least
- 28:29smoldering myeloma.
- 28:31Looks like he had a
- 28:32PET scan that didn't show
- 28:33any bone lesions. So importantly,
- 28:35with smoldering myeloma, what we're
- 28:37looking to do again is
- 28:38to exclude the slim CRAB
- 28:40criteria.
- 28:42So no evidence of bone
- 28:43lesions. The light chain ratio
- 28:44was less than,
- 28:46a hundred.
- 28:47And so, you know, he
- 28:48meets criteria for a smoldering
- 28:50or asymptomatic myeloma, which I
- 28:52think what I think is
- 28:53complicated or challenging is the
- 28:55addition of the the neuropathy
- 28:57and question of cardiac
- 28:59cardio cardiac disease, which certainly
- 29:01raises concern,
- 29:03specifically for late chain or
- 29:04AL amyloidosis,
- 29:05which can be seen
- 29:06more frequently in lambda tympic
- 29:08gammopathies.
- 29:10So I think we can
- 29:10go on to the next
- 29:11slide.
- 29:13So again in this case,
- 29:14the patient has,
- 29:15ten percent clonal plasma cells,
- 29:18significant for a smoldering myeloma.
- 29:20We've excluded
- 29:21CRAB criteria, and then he
- 29:23has no evidence of the
- 29:24slim criteria either.
- 29:27And so this figure here
- 29:29shows the difference in the
- 29:30risk of progression as you
- 29:31can see, compared to a
- 29:33one percent risk per per
- 29:34year initially with MGUS.
- 29:36In smoldering myeloma, we see
- 29:37at least initially about a
- 29:39ten percent risk per year
- 29:40of progression.
- 29:41As you can see, the
- 29:42line flattens out with the
- 29:44smoldering and asymptomatic
- 29:45myeloma. As doctor Barr mentioned,
- 29:46smoldering myeloma is very heterogeneous.
- 29:49And those patients who don't
- 29:50progress, you know, over time
- 29:52start to behave more like
- 29:53MGUS. And, you know, I
- 29:55think we often will alter
- 29:56our management to to fit
- 29:58that.
- 30:00So, the definition for the
- 30:02international
- 30:03myeloma working group for smoldering
- 30:05myeloma, again, we've gone over
- 30:06this, but a a a
- 30:07clonal plasma cell percentage
- 30:09of ten percent to sixty
- 30:11percent, over sixty percent being
- 30:13consistent with clinical or active
- 30:14myeloma,
- 30:15a monoclonal m protein greater
- 30:16than three, and a urinary
- 30:18m protein greater than five
- 30:19hundred. This is on a
- 30:20twenty four hour urine. Again,
- 30:21importantly, in our asymptomatic or
- 30:23smoldering myeloma patients, we're excluding
- 30:25the presence of slim crab
- 30:26or amyloid,
- 30:28and in particular,
- 30:29ensuring that there is no
- 30:31evidence of bone lesions. And
- 30:32we do that via advanced
- 30:34imaging either with a PET
- 30:35scan or a whole body
- 30:36MRI, both of which we
- 30:37have available here at Yale.
- 30:40Similar to MGUS,
- 30:42we, in smoldering myeloma, once
- 30:44a definition once a a
- 30:45diagnosis is confirmed, we look
- 30:46to risk stratify our patients
- 30:48and most commonly do that
- 30:49with the IMWG
- 30:51two twenty twenty rule,
- 30:53with,
- 30:54high risk criteria being patients
- 30:56who have an m protein
- 30:57or a monoclonal protein in
- 30:59the serum being greater than
- 31:00two grams per deciliter,
- 31:02having twenty percent or more
- 31:03clonal plasma cells in the
- 31:05bone marrow, and having an
- 31:06involved or uninvolved
- 31:08involved over uninvolved,
- 31:10serum free lysine ratio of
- 31:11greater than twenty. So,
- 31:13in patients who have a
- 31:14a kappa,
- 31:16gamopathy, that's the kappa over
- 31:17lambda
- 31:18ratio. If in lambda, it's
- 31:20a reverse. And so having
- 31:21that above twenty is a
- 31:22high risk criteria. And then
- 31:23there's a a four,
- 31:25criteria
- 31:26model
- 31:27that includes cytogenetics
- 31:28that are high risk from
- 31:29the bone marrow, which are
- 31:30outlined here. So translocation fourteen
- 31:32before fourteen, fourteen sixteen,
- 31:35having
- 31:36a
- 31:37gain of one q or
- 31:37a deletion of thirteen q.
- 31:38And you can see here
- 31:39in the table,
- 31:40in particular, patients with high
- 31:42risk,
- 31:43smoldering myeloma, which, is three
- 31:45to four of these criteria,
- 31:48have a high risk of
- 31:49progression at two years to
- 31:50clinical or active myeloma with
- 31:52end organ damage of sixty
- 31:53three percent.
- 31:57So to touch very briefly
- 31:58on management of smoldering myeloma
- 32:00which is really evolving,
- 32:03with our low or intermediate
- 32:04risk, smoldering myeloma patients,
- 32:07we are routinely observing them.
- 32:09We do this a bit
- 32:10more frequently than we do
- 32:11at least initially with our
- 32:13MGUS patients. So we're seeing
- 32:14them and doing laboratory evaluation
- 32:16every three months. And then
- 32:18again, to exclude any presence
- 32:20or development of bone lesions,
- 32:21we get annual, advanced imaging
- 32:23usually with a whole body
- 32:24MRI or a PET scan.
- 32:26Again, the frequency of these
- 32:28evaluations
- 32:29may change over time if
- 32:30patients remain stable.
- 32:32In high risk,
- 32:34smoldering myeloma patients,
- 32:35this is where I think,
- 32:37you know, the field is
- 32:38continuing to evolve,
- 32:40and there are differing opinions,
- 32:42I think, within the field.
- 32:43But in patients with high
- 32:45risk, smoldering myeloma, especially younger
- 32:47patients, I think, you know,
- 32:48we really consider clinical trials,
- 32:50pretty pretty highly.
- 32:52We do have some data
- 32:53about potential benefit,
- 32:55progression free survival benefit with
- 32:57our immunomodulatory
- 32:58agent lenalidomide,
- 33:00and more recently have a
- 33:01study, a phase three study
- 33:02that was published looking at
- 33:04the anti CD thirty eight
- 33:05monoclonal antibody daratumumab,
- 33:08where there was evidence in
- 33:09high risk, smoldering myeloma of
- 33:11progression free survival benefit and
- 33:13a small overall survival benefit.
- 33:15And then there still is
- 33:16an option, you know, with
- 33:17these patients to observe them
- 33:19closely.
- 33:20You know, I think there
- 33:21there is some thought, again,
- 33:23with the heterogeneity that some
- 33:24patients will progress very quickly.
- 33:26I think in younger patients,
- 33:28doctor Barr will talk about
- 33:29our, therapy, which often includes
- 33:32four drugs. And so treating
- 33:33these high risk myeloma patients,
- 33:35especially young patients with one
- 33:36drug, there is some concern
- 33:38that we could be potentially
- 33:39undertreating them. And then I
- 33:40think importantly,
- 33:42is that patients with smoldering
- 33:44or asymptomatic
- 33:45myeloma, although they may be
- 33:46without symptoms, can have some
- 33:48increased risk of other
- 33:50associated,
- 33:51complications like infections, osteoporosis,
- 33:54thromboembolism, and the risk of
- 33:55secondary malignancies.
- 33:59So I think in conclusion
- 34:00with smoldering myeloma,
- 34:01it is a very heterogeneous
- 34:03disorder. We see some individuals
- 34:04that progress quickly and others
- 34:06who never progress and act
- 34:07more like MGUS, and we
- 34:09tailor our management,
- 34:10to that.
- 34:12And with patients that are
- 34:14behaving more like a low
- 34:15risk MGUS over time, there
- 34:17is a possibility,
- 34:18you know, to have them
- 34:19referred back to their primary
- 34:20care clinician, with close monitoring.
- 34:24Again, in this case, I
- 34:25think what's
- 34:26complicated is the concomitant peripheral
- 34:28neuropathy in the setting of
- 34:30monoclonal gammopathy, which I think
- 34:31also often will warrant a
- 34:33referral so that we can
- 34:34evaluate for more rare plasma
- 34:36cell dyscrasias or other neuropathic
- 34:38symptoms,
- 34:39specifically light chain or AL
- 34:40amyloidosis,
- 34:42POEM syndrome, cryoglobulinemia.
- 34:43And with IgM monoclonal gamopathies,
- 34:46again, we can see rare
- 34:47anti MAG neuropathies and Kanamad
- 34:49syndrome as well.
- 34:51So it is, I think,
- 34:52very reasonable in patients with
- 34:54unexplained
- 34:54new or progressive peripheral neuropathy
- 34:56to consider gammopathy panels. And
- 34:58then,
- 34:59you know, if there is
- 35:00a monoclonal monoclonal protein, refer
- 35:02them to our hematology clinic
- 35:03and our neurology colleagues as
- 35:05well for further evaluation.
- 35:09And I will turn it
- 35:10back over for case three.
- 35:12Great.
- 35:14Okay. So we've had two
- 35:15cases of IgA
- 35:17monoclonals,
- 35:18and we're gonna
- 35:20we're gonna give you an
- 35:21a a different one now.
- 35:22So this is an eighty
- 35:24five year old male,
- 35:26very active, very cognitively sharp.
- 35:29New patient to me in
- 35:30October of twenty twenty.
- 35:34He came to me with
- 35:35a history of hyperlipidemia,
- 35:37hypothyroidism,
- 35:38and some mild,
- 35:40aortic valve stenosis.
- 35:42He had a right shoulder
- 35:44and left hip replacement with
- 35:46the which with a subsequent
- 35:48right total shoulder
- 35:49in twenty twenty three.
- 35:53Never smoker,
- 35:54married with two kids. He's
- 35:55a retired salesman for industrial
- 35:57cable manufacturer.
- 35:59His mom died in her
- 36:00late thirties
- 36:01from postpartum complications.
- 36:04His father and oldest sister
- 36:05died from lung cancer.
- 36:07His older brother died from
- 36:09salivary gland tumor and his
- 36:11second brother of an unknown
- 36:12cause.
- 36:14Prior to coming to me
- 36:16in twenty eleven,
- 36:19more significantly, he developed a
- 36:21mild,
- 36:22macrocytic
- 36:23anemia,
- 36:24with a hemoglobin of thirteen
- 36:26point two, MCV of ninety
- 36:28eight. His SPEP
- 36:29at the time during the
- 36:31eval,
- 36:32showed a monoclonal band,
- 36:35consistent with IgM kappa at
- 36:37zero point eight milligrams per
- 36:38deciliter.
- 36:41Because the IgM
- 36:44monoclonal
- 36:45protein,
- 36:46he went on to bone
- 36:47marrow biopsy, which revealed a
- 36:49twenty to thirty percent low
- 36:50grade
- 36:51b cell,
- 36:52lymphoproliferative
- 36:54disorder
- 36:55with plasma cell differentiation,
- 36:58kappa restriction.
- 36:59And,
- 37:01we think about Waldenstroms
- 37:03with the IgM,
- 37:05chemotherapy.
- 37:06He didn't meet criteria for
- 37:08treatment at that time.
- 37:11So, he had his SPEP
- 37:13done every year. And
- 37:16it from
- 37:17twenty eleven through twenty nineteen,
- 37:19he was very stable at
- 37:20that zero point eight milligram
- 37:21per deciliter
- 37:23level.
- 37:25In twenty nineteen
- 37:27and twenty one, the level
- 37:29rose to one point zero.
- 37:31And then in twenty two,
- 37:32it went up again to
- 37:33one point four. And then
- 37:35in twenty twenty three,
- 37:36it rose to one point
- 37:38seven.
- 37:39His hemoglobin
- 37:40dropped from eleven to eight
- 37:41point four,
- 37:43and he does developing fatigue.
- 37:45So he's becoming symptomatic. He
- 37:46had no other causes for
- 37:48the anemia to explain the
- 37:49drop.
- 37:50His his,
- 37:51kappa light chain was three
- 37:53point eight, and his IgM
- 37:56antibodies were in the mid,
- 37:58two thousand six hundred twenty
- 38:00two. Excuse me. And at
- 38:02that point, decision was made
- 38:04to treat with rituximab,
- 38:06and we want to,
- 38:09pass over to doctor Barr
- 38:10to talk about
- 38:12IgM disease here.
- 38:14Yes. So
- 38:16you can see here that
- 38:17the spectrum of IgM gammopathies,
- 38:20are very similar to the
- 38:21IgG and IgAs where you
- 38:23have the MGUS and you
- 38:24have this middle stage of
- 38:26asymptomatic
- 38:26or smoldering,
- 38:28Waldenstrom's
- 38:29and then symptomatic
- 38:30Waldenstrom's
- 38:31that needs therapy.
- 38:33So what defines
- 38:34needing therapy,
- 38:36is different in myeloma and
- 38:38the lymphoma. For example,
- 38:40for lymphomas, we look at
- 38:41b symptoms, like
- 38:43constitutional
- 38:44symptoms, weight law unexplained
- 38:46weight loss,
- 38:47fevers, night sweats, things like
- 38:50that, feeling just generally very
- 38:52poorly.
- 38:53We look at symptomatic
- 38:54cytopenias, which are mainly from
- 38:57crowding of, the bone marrow
- 38:59from the lymphoma
- 39:01or from hepatosplenomegaly,
- 39:03which can also cause cytopenias.
- 39:05Obviously, hyperviscosity
- 39:07is very concerning. It should
- 39:08be treated right away.
- 39:11Also, if you have progressive
- 39:13bulky lymphadenopathy,
- 39:14that would be criteria for
- 39:16treatment
- 39:16for glabalinemia
- 39:18called,
- 39:19agglutin disease
- 39:20and significant neuropathy.
- 39:22It's important to to also
- 39:24know that not all neuropathy
- 39:26would warrant therapy. Sometimes people
- 39:28have very mild,
- 39:30case and they're fully functional
- 39:32and we just kind of
- 39:33watch them because, again, you
- 39:34have to assess the risk
- 39:35and benefit. Waldenstrom is also
- 39:37not it it's not a
- 39:39curable,
- 39:40cancer.
- 39:42So when you assess someone
- 39:43with IgM gumopathy,
- 39:45your your questioning and what
- 39:47you're looking for is quite
- 39:48different from when you're assessing
- 39:50someone with non IgM gumopathy.
- 39:58Good.
- 40:01And then, you know, to
- 40:03to take,
- 40:05to move on from an
- 40:06IGM,
- 40:08discussion,
- 40:10We have, this next case,
- 40:11which was a fifty two
- 40:13year old gentleman from Ecuador,
- 40:17who's new to me,
- 40:19really this past December. But
- 40:21in
- 40:23June of twenty two
- 40:25twenty twenty
- 40:26two, he went to his
- 40:27PCP, had a urologic symptom,
- 40:29but on the side said,
- 40:31oh, by the way, my
- 40:32neck pain my neck hurts,
- 40:33you know, for last week.
- 40:35And I, you know, just
- 40:36changed my mattress. You know?
- 40:37What do I do?
- 40:39And,
- 40:40the,
- 40:41you know, looked in you
- 40:42know, looked into it, said
- 40:44no no red flags on
- 40:46discussion exam, etcetera.
- 40:47He,
- 40:48looked over his chart. He
- 40:49had no past medical history,
- 40:51no surgeries.
- 40:53Social wise, he was married
- 40:55with two kids, immigrated in,
- 40:57two thousand five, and he
- 40:58works as a graphic artist.
- 41:01So,
- 41:02you know, you know, conservative
- 41:03care was instructions were provided,
- 41:06and he was advised to
- 41:07come back to the clinic
- 41:08and and,
- 41:10if if things improve.
- 41:12But four weeks later
- 41:14in July,
- 41:16he went to the emergency
- 41:17room at Bridgeport Hospital with
- 41:18worsening neck pain
- 41:20and right,
- 41:22ear numbness
- 41:23and right arm pain.
- 41:26He had a subjective fever.
- 41:27He had cough. He had
- 41:28congestion. So he was tested
- 41:30for COVID. He was positive.
- 41:32He was discharged
- 41:33with molnupiravir
- 41:34and, PCP follow-up.
- 41:37The next day, he had
- 41:38a phone call, video visit
- 41:39with his primary care doc,
- 41:42mentioned the neck pain again.
- 41:43She ordered an X-ray,
- 41:46but the patient didn't get
- 41:47it done for whatever reason.
- 41:49And,
- 41:51he went back to his
- 41:52primary care doc saying, hey.
- 41:53I have this neck pain.
- 41:54It's still here.
- 41:56And I think she said,
- 41:57well, where's the X-ray? He
- 41:58said I didn't get it
- 41:59done. So he and then
- 42:00he went and got it
- 42:01done. And he had a
- 42:03c three h, indeterminate,
- 42:05you know, compression fracture,
- 42:09and an MRI was ordered,
- 42:11for follow-up. And, two weeks
- 42:13later, he got that done.
- 42:14And,
- 42:15you see here at the
- 42:16c three level,
- 42:18under the red circle, he's
- 42:20got a
- 42:21pathologic fracture.
- 42:23It's a burst fracture. It's,
- 42:25you know, moving posteriorly and
- 42:27then pinching the cervical
- 42:29spinal cord.
- 42:32Yeah.
- 42:33He had multiple lesions throughout
- 42:34his vertebrae,
- 42:36a rib and a humeral
- 42:37head, and, no other signs
- 42:39of a of a alternative,
- 42:41you know, cancer identified.
- 42:44And then he had,
- 42:45he had
- 42:46a mild you know, he
- 42:47had anemia, normalcytic anemia of
- 42:49twelve point eight, normal calcium,
- 42:51normal creatinine.
- 42:53He had a, he had
- 42:54a identifiable monoclonal protein on
- 42:56the s PEP that was
- 42:57IgG kappa on immunofixation,
- 43:00elevated kappa light chain, elevated
- 43:02kappa light chain ratio.
- 43:04One six eight, he had
- 43:05elevated IgG immunoglobulins,
- 43:07and he had some pain
- 43:09proteins on the urine,
- 43:11electrophoresis.
- 43:12But,
- 43:14clinical course, he went through
- 43:15a c three corpectomy
- 43:17and,
- 43:18with an interview vertebral,
- 43:20device placement.
- 43:22Well, you know, a few
- 43:23days later by posterior cervical
- 43:25fixation,
- 43:27tissue,
- 43:28pathology from the burst fracture
- 43:29showed sheets of plasma cells,
- 43:31you know, CD one thirty
- 43:32eight, you know, capilloid chain
- 43:34restriction.
- 43:36And then
- 43:37few days later, had his
- 43:38bone marrow,
- 43:39biopsy done and, twenty percent
- 43:42kappa,
- 43:43plasma cells identified.
- 43:45And back to doctor Barr.
- 43:49Sorry. I was so excited
- 43:50to talk about myeloma that
- 43:52I speeded ahead.
- 43:54So so this patient does
- 43:55have a diagnosis of multiple
- 43:57myeloma. He has,
- 43:59definitely bony lesions. It has
- 44:00some anemia. And, actually, in
- 44:02fact, the most common
- 44:03presenting, CRB criteria is bony
- 44:05lesions and anemia.
- 44:07I think the key features
- 44:08here is this kind of
- 44:10persistent progressive bony pains that
- 44:12in a young patient, someone
- 44:15might not think is is
- 44:16that,
- 44:17you know, concerning, especially we
- 44:19see a lot of patients
- 44:19who are shoveling snow and
- 44:21have some back pain, but
- 44:22that does not go away.
- 44:23You know? So it's like
- 44:25something that continues, something that
- 44:26needs to be evaluated for
- 44:28sure with more, imaging.
- 44:30So myeloma is not curable,
- 44:32and, of course, that's devastating
- 44:33for patients,
- 44:35to hear.
- 44:36And as I show you
- 44:38here, it's categorized by multiple
- 44:40relapses.
- 44:41The first
- 44:43remission
- 44:44or response to therapy
- 44:46is often the longest one.
- 44:48And you don't really have,
- 44:50numbers here, but on average,
- 44:52these patients
- 44:53have a first duration of
- 44:55response of about five years.
- 44:56So it's quite good.
- 44:59And then once they relapse,
- 45:00they get another therapy, and
- 45:01then each with each relapse,
- 45:03it shortens.
- 45:04We do,
- 45:05kind of classify as early
- 45:07relapse and late relapse mainly
- 45:09for kind of treatments
- 45:11different treatments that are approved
- 45:12for these particular situations,
- 45:16and a little bit relevant
- 45:17for a few slides from
- 45:18now. So in terms of
- 45:20epidemiology,
- 45:21it's definitely not the most
- 45:22common cancer, so fourteenth most
- 45:24common cancer.
- 45:26It's usually seen in the
- 45:27elderly, median age of sixty
- 45:29nine,
- 45:30more commonly seen in individual
- 45:31of African American descent.
- 45:33The median survival, I can
- 45:35see here in the,
- 45:37green
- 45:39graph here, has
- 45:40steadily
- 45:42improved
- 45:42for the last two decades.
- 45:44Okay?
- 45:46And it it it does
- 45:47depend on risk. And right
- 45:49now, we're looking here,
- 45:51or we don't we don't
- 45:52actually have twenty twenty five
- 45:54with the most recent evaluation
- 45:56from the SEER database
- 45:58is twenty twenty one,
- 46:00showing you that at five
- 46:01years, if you were diagnosed
- 46:02in twenty twenty one, the
- 46:04chance
- 46:04of being alive at five
- 46:06years is sixty two percent.
- 46:07But I can tell you
- 46:08this is very much an
- 46:10underrepresentation
- 46:11of our survival in our
- 46:13patients,
- 46:13and this is probably more
- 46:15close to seventy five to
- 46:16eighty percent.
- 46:18High risk patients
- 46:20probably,
- 46:22do die within the first
- 46:23five years, but if you're
- 46:24not high risk, you do
- 46:25have that benefit of of
- 46:27longer duration of survival.
- 46:30Majority of the reason why
- 46:32our patients are living longer
- 46:33is because of new therapies.
- 46:36So the initial therapy for
- 46:38myeloma,
- 46:39can be quite cumbersome. So
- 46:41it actually involves three different
- 46:43parts. The first is induction.
- 46:45We use several drugs together.
- 46:48And after you get
- 46:50here, you see burden of
- 46:51disease,
- 46:53and then it goes down
- 46:54with induction.
- 46:55Some patients get a high
- 46:57dose chemotherapy and stem cell
- 46:59transplant if they're eligible,
- 47:01and then everyone goes on
- 47:03to getting maintenance. And we
- 47:04continue therapy for myeloma
- 47:07ongoing
- 47:07forever, which now as patients
- 47:09are living longer,
- 47:10is creating more problems. And
- 47:12we're trying to,
- 47:14figure this out who we
- 47:15can stop therapy,
- 47:17for.
- 47:19We know that achieving
- 47:20deep responses
- 47:22as we can
- 47:24measure by minimal residual disease
- 47:26negativity
- 47:28achieves good duration response and
- 47:32overall outcomes of survival.
- 47:34And with our newer therapies
- 47:35that we're using in induction
- 47:38and even in maintenance, we're
- 47:39achieving higher rates of MRG
- 47:41negativity, and this is why
- 47:42our our patients are overall
- 47:44doing much better.
- 47:46However, unfortunately, again, it is
- 47:48not curable, so patients do
- 47:50progress.
- 47:51And patients who progress several
- 47:53times
- 47:55historically
- 47:56have horrible prognosis, and this
- 47:58is historically
- 48:00four years ago. Okay?
- 48:02This is showing you patients
- 48:03who have had three late
- 48:05relapses.
- 48:06The chance of them
- 48:08responding to the next line
- 48:10of therapy
- 48:11is only thirty percent.
- 48:13And even if they do
- 48:14respond, they tend to progress
- 48:16with within several months, usually
- 48:19less than six months,
- 48:20and they often die within
- 48:22a year.
- 48:24What do we have today?
- 48:25This is quite different.
- 48:27We are now in the
- 48:28era of T cell redirection
- 48:30therapies, which is a type
- 48:31of immunotherapy
- 48:33that
- 48:34engages the T cells or
- 48:36uses T cells
- 48:37to identify
- 48:39the cancer, myeloma,
- 48:41through an antigen,
- 48:42which is a cell,
- 48:43a marker on the cell
- 48:45surface of the myeloma,
- 48:47identifies it,
- 48:48attacks it, kills it.
- 48:50So this is done through
- 48:52two different ways. One is
- 48:54called a bispecific
- 48:55T cell engager,
- 48:57which is basically an antibody,
- 48:58as you can see, shaped
- 48:59like a myeloma,
- 49:02monoclonal protein,
- 49:03which one of the arms
- 49:05binds to the T cell
- 49:06and the other one binds
- 49:07to the myeloma cell.
- 49:09The other T cell redirection
- 49:11therapy is a CAR T
- 49:12cell, which is basically a
- 49:14T cell that's engineered
- 49:16to
- 49:17have a receptor that recognizes
- 49:19the myeloma and kills it.
- 49:21And the T cells are
- 49:21kind of superstar T cells
- 49:23because they have
- 49:25costimulatory
- 49:26molecules once they get stimulated.
- 49:30So why are we so
- 49:31excited about these t cell
- 49:33redirection therapies? Again, historically,
- 49:36these patients
- 49:37who received these therapies on
- 49:39clinical trials would have had
- 49:41a thirty percent chance of
- 49:42response. And indeed, a lot
- 49:43of the treatments we use
- 49:44now upfront, they got approved
- 49:46by the FDA because of
- 49:47a thirty percent response rate,
- 49:49and we were excited about
- 49:50that.
- 49:51And, again, these patients who've
- 49:53progressed three times,
- 49:54they usually, even if they
- 49:56respond,
- 49:57progress within a few months.
- 49:59So this is a busy
- 50:00slide, but I want you
- 50:01to focus on two things.
- 50:02The first is in the
- 50:04orange box, the percent of
- 50:05page patients responding.
- 50:08First, I show you here
- 50:10three different types of bispecific
- 50:12T cell engagers,
- 50:13and in the second box
- 50:14is the two types of
- 50:16CAR T cell therapy products.
- 50:18And you can see on
- 50:19the bottom in gray,
- 50:21the chance of patients responding
- 50:22is more than double
- 50:24in the bispecific t cell
- 50:25engagers
- 50:27and even close to a
- 50:28hundred
- 50:29in the in this CAR
- 50:31T cell product, ciltasil,
- 50:32ninety seven percent. Only one
- 50:34of the patients did not
- 50:35respond in this clinical trial.
- 50:37So this is great.
- 50:39Unprecedented.
- 50:40Now in blue, our bar
- 50:42is showing you
- 50:44the number of months
- 50:46where fifty percent of the
- 50:47population
- 50:49progressed or in the other,
- 50:52the half the the cup
- 50:53half full, half empty,
- 50:55fifty percent did not progress
- 50:57at this time point. And
- 50:59comparing to the six months
- 51:01or less historically,
- 51:03you can see these agents
- 51:04are doing far superiorly
- 51:07with celtacel
- 51:08going on about three years.
- 51:10So on average,
- 51:11patients have a duration of
- 51:13response of three years.
- 51:14Again, unbelievable in these patients.
- 51:17And because these are so
- 51:19useful and efficacious in this
- 51:21late relapse,
- 51:23They've been tested earlier and
- 51:24were approved in early relapse
- 51:26and are now being tested
- 51:28in frontline therapy
- 51:30and even,
- 51:32testing against transplant.
- 51:35We'll we'll know more in
- 51:36maybe five to ten years.
- 51:39So CAR T is a
- 51:40little bit different than other
- 51:42therapies we use because,
- 51:44it requires
- 51:45manufacturing.
- 51:46So I just wanted to
- 51:47show you what this entails,
- 51:48what patients have to go
- 51:49through. First, we have to
- 51:50collect the T cells from
- 51:51the patients through apheresis, then
- 51:53they get shipped off to
- 51:54the manufacturer.
- 51:56They separate,
- 51:57the T cells. They they
- 51:59genetically
- 51:59modify them to express
- 52:02the chimeric T cell receptor,
- 52:04then they grow, and then
- 52:05they get
- 52:06brought back to the patient
- 52:08and infused
- 52:09like a regular blood transfusion
- 52:10similar to that.
- 52:13This here show you a
- 52:14highlight of what this CAR
- 52:16T,
- 52:16what what the receptor looks
- 52:18like. So there's a binding
- 52:19domain. Again, this is to
- 52:20a protein
- 52:22called BCMA.
- 52:23IDACel has two binding domains
- 52:25and I and, sorry, cilta
- 52:27cell has two binding domains
- 52:28and IDACel has one.
- 52:32Now a major difference between
- 52:34CAR T and the bispecific
- 52:36T cell engagers also is
- 52:38how you administer it, which
- 52:40is relevant for patients. So
- 52:42bispecifics,
- 52:43we don't stop therapy. We
- 52:44give it every week or
- 52:45every two weeks and sometimes
- 52:46every four weeks depending on
- 52:48the product. But CAR T
- 52:49is a one time treatment,
- 52:51which is really,
- 52:53nice for patients who've been
- 52:54treated for many, many years
- 52:55continuously.
- 52:58So just to close on
- 53:00the myeloma
- 53:02category, you know, a lot
- 53:03of patient care happens with
- 53:05us, so you don't,
- 53:06see it as much, but
- 53:07you do see them once
- 53:08in a while. And there
- 53:09are some comorbidities
- 53:11that,
- 53:12can be exacerbated by our
- 53:14treatment. Steroids are often used
- 53:16in many of our regimens,
- 53:17so this could worsen hypertension,
- 53:19diabetes. I mean, we might
- 53:21need more support from you
- 53:22guys to help manage that.
- 53:24Carfizumab,
- 53:25which is the second generation
- 53:26proteasome inhibitor, could also,
- 53:29lead to hypertension
- 53:30and heart failure.
- 53:32And many of our treatments
- 53:33increase the risk for infections,
- 53:36often not opportunistic.
- 53:38But now with the t
- 53:39cell redirection therapies, we are
- 53:41seeing some more opportunistic
- 53:43infections. So it's important to,
- 53:46to recognize that. And with
- 53:47an infection, let us know
- 53:49what's going on so we
- 53:50can further assess.
- 53:52And lastly,
- 53:53I wanna end by showing
- 53:55you the gammopathy pathway that
- 53:56is in EPIC.
- 53:58And,
- 53:59it's a busy slide, but
- 54:00I want you to know
- 54:01it's there
- 54:02As
- 54:03and you can see that
- 54:05it guides you through if
- 54:06you have a monoclonal protein
- 54:07on SBEP or not.
- 54:10And showing you the monoclonal
- 54:11gammopathy,
- 54:13screen panel here, which makes
- 54:15sure you're ordering all the
- 54:16pair protein evaluation that we
- 54:18need
- 54:19and also some key information
- 54:21about when to refer urgently,
- 54:24when to not refer urgently,
- 54:25when to repeat labs, and
- 54:27reassess.
- 54:30So to close our,
- 54:33talk today,
- 54:34these are just some summary
- 54:36points that we wanna highlight.
- 54:38First, we showed you how
- 54:39it's important to recognize whether
- 54:41it's normal light chain ratio,
- 54:43how, how age and, renal
- 54:45dysfunction
- 54:46can affect these.
- 54:47We showed you what low
- 54:49risk MGUS is, what is
- 54:51the definition,
- 54:53and that this often can
- 54:55be managed by primary care
- 54:56doctors
- 54:57if
- 54:58or co managed with us.
- 55:01When to urgently refer patient,
- 55:02CRAB criteria,
- 55:04certainly,
- 55:06things that make it in
- 55:07IgM, gammopathies,
- 55:09things that kind of, are
- 55:11red flags is new progressive
- 55:13neuropathy or
- 55:15other symptoms
- 55:16diagnose,
- 55:17diagnosing Waldenstrom.
- 55:18And lastly,
- 55:20it would be,
- 55:21wonderful if you can look
- 55:22at the gammopathy pathway if
- 55:24you have a positive,
- 55:26finding and tell us if
- 55:27it was helpful or unhelpful.
- 55:30How can we, improve this
- 55:32pathway? And, also, there is
- 55:33some education material
- 55:34for MGUS
- 55:35to bring to the patient
- 55:37to reduce anxiety.
- 55:41That was terrific. A real,
- 55:44everything you know need to
- 55:45know from a to z
- 55:46or maybe a to IGG.
- 55:48I I don't know. IGM.
- 55:50We have a couple of
- 55:52questions, and we are
- 55:54getting near the end of
- 55:55the hour. One is the
- 55:57usual, is there a CME
- 55:59code? And and, Renee, if
- 56:00you can just type in,
- 56:02that I I I think
- 56:03what we found before is
- 56:04if you're if you're here,
- 56:06we end up getting you
- 56:07credit,
- 56:08as long as your name
- 56:09shows.
- 56:10But one question from doctor
- 56:12Zarku Power is, is there
- 56:14is there robust research to
- 56:16link the risk of multiple
- 56:18myeloma to pesticides,
- 56:20agent orange, or other chemicals?
- 56:22There are sets of two
- 56:24patients in her panel who,
- 56:27have asked her opinion on
- 56:29that, pertaining to themselves and
- 56:31relatives. And if there's no
- 56:32robust research, why not?
- 56:39So, I'll say agent orange,
- 56:41definitely.
- 56:43That's a definite risk
- 56:45factor. Pesticides?
- 56:48I don't think so.
- 56:49I'm not I'm not familiar
- 56:51either with pesticides. One one
- 56:52thing I did wanna add
- 56:54is there is emerging evidence
- 56:55looking at connections, associations with
- 56:58components of metabolic syndrome, specifically
- 57:00obesity and diabetes, and both
- 57:02development and progression of monoclonal
- 57:04gammopathy and,
- 57:06you know, some studies looking
- 57:07at the potential for preventative
- 57:09interventions,
- 57:10because they you know, I
- 57:11think
- 57:12the thought is just kind
- 57:13of the the level of
- 57:14inflammation, but I think we
- 57:15we don't know exactly what
- 57:16the connection is.
- 57:24Drew, do you have any
- 57:25other questions for our panelists?
- 57:27You've been knee deep in
- 57:28this, and and you have
- 57:29an internist opportunity
- 57:31to be face to face.
- 57:33Any additional ones?
- 57:36I think I think I
- 57:37had a couple of of
- 57:39I guess I guess the
- 57:40IGA,
- 57:41like, we had two cases
- 57:42here with IGA. We had,
- 57:44you know, nothing detected on
- 57:45the SPEP. We know that
- 57:47the IGA migrates,
- 57:48you know, through the,
- 57:51into the beta,
- 57:55you know, the beta we
- 57:56we went blank on my
- 57:57knee on the term here.
- 57:59The beta region.
- 58:01Is there
- 58:02I guess the question is,
- 58:04like,
- 58:07the it it I
- 58:09guess, if it's high it's
- 58:10high risk. Right? So
- 58:12how do you
- 58:14when you're going by IGA
- 58:15levels
- 58:16and light chain levels to
- 58:18see if there's any progression
- 58:20of the disease,
- 58:22Is that always a hundred
- 58:23percent reliable?
- 58:26It does so does does
- 58:28I know there there when
- 58:29you do a bone marrow
- 58:30biopsy, you're more likely to
- 58:31see, like,
- 58:33more plasma cells in IgA,
- 58:37right, relative to IgG. So
- 58:39do do you see a
- 58:40direct correlation between the IgA,
- 58:43protein or the or the
- 58:45or
- 58:46the free light chain,
- 58:48quantification
- 58:49and,
- 58:51cell you know, like,
- 58:53progression of disease. Is that
- 58:55is that reliable?
- 58:57That that's that's a very
- 58:58good question. I mean, generally,
- 58:59we we look at everything.
- 59:02In
- 59:03when patients progress, even if
- 59:05they have myeloma or if
- 59:06they're MGUS and they're going
- 59:07up, the IgA typically goes
- 59:09up first.
- 59:10And then the m spike
- 59:11will rise later, several months
- 59:13later. So that's why we
- 59:15look at both.
- 59:17The again, the trend holds
- 59:18true for the most part.
- 59:20When the there's more clonal
- 59:21plasma cells, there's gonna be
- 59:23more clonal,
- 59:24protein or or IGA or
- 59:26or light chains.
- 59:27But it might not be,
- 59:29like, a a one to
- 59:30one representation,
- 59:32but the trends hold true.
- 59:34Okay.
- 59:35That helps.
- 59:39I think
- 59:40I think it's really important
- 59:41for, like, primary care docs
- 59:43to
- 59:44recognize
- 59:45that low risk category. You
- 59:47know, the three criteria where
- 59:48it's the IgG,
- 59:50m protein, the less than
- 59:51one point five
- 59:53milligrams on the SPEP,
- 59:54and then the the normal
- 59:56serum prelate chain ratio. So
- 59:58I think,
- 59:59you know, we see something
- 01:00:00like this and we're like,
- 01:00:01oh my gosh.
- 01:00:02I don't want this to
- 01:00:04be my own, you know,
- 01:00:06monitoring, you know, responsibility.
- 01:00:08But,
- 01:00:10I think that's a key
- 01:00:11nugget for me,
- 01:00:12looking at this talk and
- 01:00:14going through this talk.
- 01:00:16The difference you know, the
- 01:00:17IGM,
- 01:00:18you have to think Waldenstrom's,
- 01:00:20you know, and then the
- 01:00:21IGA not the is always
- 01:00:22a low risk, needs a
- 01:00:24needs that biopsy. I think
- 01:00:25those are key take homes
- 01:00:26from my,
- 01:00:28standpoint.
- 01:00:32I guess the question going
- 01:00:34back to the toxins too,
- 01:00:36which
- 01:00:38and and the,
- 01:00:39monoclonal the the monoclonal proteins.
- 01:00:41But can
- 01:00:43they get the gentleman in
- 01:00:44this case who developed the,
- 01:00:47IgA Lambda
- 01:00:48and with the false positive
- 01:00:49Lyme, etcetera,
- 01:00:52he blames things on his
- 01:00:54COVID vaccine. Right? So,
- 01:00:56yeah, COVID vaccine, he developed
- 01:00:58this neuropathy, and we found
- 01:01:00this this issue.
- 01:01:02He developed ulcerative colitis after
- 01:01:04his COVID vaccine. So he's
- 01:01:05a he's he's moving towards
- 01:01:07that realm. I'm not saying
- 01:01:09anything is
- 01:01:11is is you know, I'm
- 01:01:11not I'm not buying that
- 01:01:13story a whole lot, but
- 01:01:14at all. But, you you
- 01:01:15know, thinking of,
- 01:01:17yeah, I know, thinking of,
- 01:01:21antibody like, is there a
- 01:01:22correlation between
- 01:01:23any autoimmune syndrome or kind
- 01:01:25of stimulation of b cells
- 01:01:26in some way and increase
- 01:01:28risk of of of these
- 01:01:30disorders?
- 01:01:32Like, you know, COVID vaccine,
- 01:01:33we're stimulating,
- 01:01:35you know,
- 01:01:37antibody production,
- 01:01:39but not saying causation. But
- 01:01:40is there any
- 01:01:41is there any discussion of
- 01:01:43that, or is there any
- 01:01:47similar concerns being brought to
- 01:01:49your
- 01:01:50attention.
- 01:01:51Yeah. I I think these
- 01:01:52are questions we get as
- 01:01:53well. I mean, I think
- 01:01:54there is
- 01:01:55thought to be association with
- 01:01:56autoimmune
- 01:01:58inflammatory disorders where there's kind
- 01:01:59of constant stimulation of b
- 01:02:01cells like like you're saying.
- 01:02:03You know, I'm not aware.
- 01:02:04I I there was,
- 01:02:06a small study presented as
- 01:02:07an abstract looking at change
- 01:02:09in monoclonal protein after COVID
- 01:02:11vaccines, and there was none.
- 01:02:12No evidence of progression. So,
- 01:02:14I'm not aware of anything
- 01:02:15kinda larger than that, but
- 01:02:17that's a question that comes
- 01:02:18up a lot from our
- 01:02:19patients. But, you know, that
- 01:02:20and from that small information,
- 01:02:21I don't think we think
- 01:02:22there's connection. At least in
- 01:02:24patients that have have MGUS,
- 01:02:25you know, don't progress to
- 01:02:26to something more.
- 01:02:28Yeah. I mean, that's that's
- 01:02:29good. Just, cut us off
- 01:02:31because we passed our hour.
- 01:02:33Yeah. And I so appreciate
- 01:02:36all of the preparation
- 01:02:37that you all did to
- 01:02:38bring us
- 01:02:39all of this information. This
- 01:02:41is really helpful. And, if
- 01:02:43there are others who you
- 01:02:43think may be interested, please
- 01:02:45feel free,
- 01:02:46to share the link, to
- 01:02:47watch afterwards. We thank you
- 01:02:49for attending,
- 01:02:51and we'll see you next
- 01:02:53month when we have colorectal
- 01:02:54cancer prevention and screening as
- 01:02:56our hot topic.
- 01:02:59Thanks, everyone. Bye bye. Very
- 01:03:00much.