Multiple myeloma of the elderly in rheumatology

Multiple myeloma is a malignant plasma cell proliferation that secretes a monoclonal immunoglobulin or a fragment of this immunoglobulin. The aim of this study is to specify the clinical, biological, radiological and therapeutic characteristics of MM in the elderly. A retrospective analysis of 51 patients with MM aged over 65 years and followed in a rheumatology department over a period of 22 years was made. The circumstances of discovery were dominated by bone pain (70.5%) and general syndrome (50% of cases). At the time of diagnosis, hematological complications such as anemia were more frequent in this setting than in others. The majority of patients (90.1%) were classified as Salmon and Durie stage III. Our patients were treated according to 3 protocols depending on the recruitment period. When following our patients, the majority were lost to follow-up. The causes of death were dominated by chemotherapy toxicity. Thus, the therapeutic management of these patients requires an evaluation of the tolerance/efficacy ratio to ensure an adequate quality of life.