- Giulia Granchi
- BBC News Brazil
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44 minutes ago
Photo credit, GETTY
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Back pain is the main symptom of a rare cancer.
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Multiple myeloma is a type of blood cancer that affects the blood system, mainly causing complications in the kidneys and bones – with symptoms that are difficult to differentiate from other various diseases.
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The disease attacks plasma cells, a type of white blood cell, which has the function of producing antibodies to fight infections.
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Instead of healthy cells, malignant versions appear which multiply and begin to produce abnormal antibodies, known as M-protein or monoclonal protein, which damage different parts of the body – and this is why the disease has the word ” multiple” in its name.
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Patients usually experience, before any other sign, low back pain, a very generic symptom, which can be the result of a night’s sleep in an uncomfortable position, an overly intense workout at the gym or many others. everyday factors.
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But this is also considered the main symptom of this rare cancer.
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It was precisely this malaise that led shopkeeper Luiz Fernando Fontenele, 37, to undertake a long journey of examinations and medical consultations until he discovered the disease.
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“I felt a lot of pain and it was not until seven months after suffering the first fracture that I received the diagnosis. I myself aroused the suspicions because I had read information about the symptoms on Internet,” he recalls.
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As with Luiz Fernando, the disease can lead to fractures, as it weakens the bones, anemia, due to excess plasma cells in the bone marrow, which leads to a reduction in the number of hematopoietic cells, and in more serious cases , kidney failure, due to the damage that the disease causes to the renal tubules.
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Photo credit, Disclosure
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Luiz Fernando at the ‘Juntos Somos Mais Fortes’ (Together We Are Strong) event, promoted by Amgen and the International Myeloma Foundation Latin America.
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Although rare, it is the second most common blood cancer in the world. In Brazil, it is estimated that four people in a hundred thousand suffer from the disease, an average of 7,600 new cases each year.
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The disease is more common in people over 60, but is diagnosed in younger people. The most emblematic case in world literature occurred in Brazil.
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An 8-year-old boy, resident of Salvador, Bahia, was diagnosed with the disease. According to the organization IMF (International Myeloma Foundation Latin America), he was the first child in history to receive the diagnosis.
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Multiple myeloma can be detected by a urine test or a blood test called serum protein electrophoresis, ordered when symptoms point to an inflammatory disease, autoimmune disease, acute or chronic infection, liver or kidney disease .
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“While I think the review need not be routinely ordered for everyone – even because it might mean public spending that would take up resources for other diseases – I consider it unacceptable. that a patient can stay so long with symptoms, and due to the lack of knowledge of professionals who are not specialists, do not have a request for an examination that leads to the diagnosis”, explains Angelo Maiolino, professor of hematology at UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro).
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After the first symptoms, 29% of patients with multiple myeloma take a year to receive the diagnosis, and 28% wait even longer, according to a survey by Abrale (Brazilian Lymphoma and Leukemia Association).
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“I have seen cases of people on dialysis, with very weakened kidneys, who only discovered the disease three years later,” Maiolino explains.
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Photo credit, AsiaVision/Getty Images
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Back pain is the main symptom of a rare cancer.
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Treatment
Since the first diagnosis of multiple myeloma, in the 18th century, medicine has made progress in the evolution of both biological knowledge of the disease and treatments, which today allow patients with this type of cancer to live longer and with more well-being.
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The disease has no cure, but in many cases, treatments that allow patients to live well, with good control of symptoms.
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“It’s as if they had a chronic disease like diabetes, hypertension…”, says Maiolino.
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Early intervention, according to the doctor, is the way to prevent the progression of the disease from irreversibly compromising the health of patients.
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“We use one type of treatment for each stage of the disease, but if the disease is discovered late, the patient will not be able to benefit from the first stages of care,” he explains.
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Another very common option is the indication for stem cell transplantation.
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Before the transplant, treatment with chemotherapy or radiotherapy is done so that the existing bone marrow (where the body makes blood, white and red blood cells and platelets) makes room for new marrow to be created.
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New bone marrow is a gelatinous fluid that can come from a donor or be autologous (from the patient himself).
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Luiz Fernando was transplanted, but suffered a recurrence, that is, the disease returned.
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“It was more difficult than receiving the diagnosis. I have a specific treatment, with a combination of drugs every 28 days in hospital and every 21 days at home. I discovered multiple myeloma at 28 years old and I don’t remember a day that I spent without pain. It’s difficult, but you learn to live with it. The combination of drugs allows me to have a normal life”.
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