The scan that finds myeloma the standard tests missed

Multiple myeloma can hide. In a phase 2 trial led by Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami, 60 patients received both a standard PET/CT scan and a new immunoPET scan, which uses labelled antibodies that home in on myeloma cells and light them up. In more than one in ten patients, the new scan found active disease the standard scan and blood tests had missed — in one case, nearly 100 sites of disease in a patient whose conventional tests showed nothing. Biopsies confirmed the findings, and for one patient with unexplained back pain, the scan found the spinal lesions behind it; a change of treatment resolved the pain. The study, in Radiology, gives doctors a sharper map for judging whether treatment is really working.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation