Guy Pratt, MD, FRCP, FRCPath, of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, UK, discusses recent guideline changes within multiple myeloma (MM) diagnostics and treatment, focusing on improving imaging modalities, at the 2018 British Society for Haematology (BSH) Annual Scientific Meeting, in Liverpool, UK. Dr Pratt explores utilizing cross-sectional imaging, including the use of whole body MRI, low-dose full body CT scans, and PET scans, recommending these methods for those with suspected MM suggesting a substantial change in practice from the skeletal surveys used previously. Cross-sectional imaging techniques are better able to not only pick up the bone disease that are easily missed in radiographs, but to define the anatomical structure of bone and soft tissue lesions. Moreover, they can be used to define response to treatment, signifying a paradigm shift within MM care.
