Yale Cancer Center Physicians Bring Myeloma Message to Hamden’s Newhall Neighborhood

Doctors and researchers still are not sure what causes myeloma, a rare cancer of the white blood cells that initially shows few symptoms, but they do know that 20 percent of myeloma cases are detected in Black Americans – and that the number is rising.

That is why members of the Yale Myeloma team went to Hamden’s Newhall neighborhood on November 30 for, “Understanding Myeloma: A Community Event.”

About 50 people attended the program where doctors from Yale, including Natalia Neparidze, MD, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine (Hematology) and Research Leader of the Myeloma Program in Hematology; Noffar Bar, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Hematology), and Sabrina Browning, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Hematology), spoke about ongoing research into myeloma and its inordinate impact on Black Americans.

Researchers cannot explain the high prevalence of myeloma among Black Americans, but they know there is a lower rate of diagnostic testing among Black Americans and that there is limited access to quality healthcare and limited stem cell transplant options compared to white Americans. The average time between treatment and diagnosis of myeloma is almost twice as long for Black people as it is for white people. The Yale doctors urged Newhall residents to have annual blood tests that can detect concerns, including rare cancers like myeloma.

Dr. Neparidze said that effective treatments for myeloma developed over the last 20 years have improved survival rates, often giving people diagnosed with the disease many more years. Dr. Browning discussed several recent clinical trials underway at Yale Cancer Center for myeloma and stressed the need for patients to consider participating in these studies. Dr. Bar, who specializes in all treatment modalities for myeloma including CAR T-cell therapy and stem cell transplant, described T-cell redirection, where they engage a patient’s T-cells to kill the myeloma cells.

Myeloma symptoms are often ignored because they could be mistaken for other health issues. Symptoms include sudden or severe back pain, nausea or stomach pain, kidney issues, shortness of breath, itching, leg swelling, fatigue, dizziness, confusion, severe thirst, leg numbness or weakness or severe constipation.

The event was sponsored by Yale Cancer Center and Janssen Pharmaceuticals.