What is the typical life span of people with myeloma?

Variabe: In recent years there have been significant strides in the treatment of myeloma which have resulted in a significant prolongation of survival. There are now many long term survivors (5 yrs or more) although we don't believe the disease is truly curable at this point.

Variable: It depends on factors such as stage of disease, chromosome changes and other medical problems. Age may also impact survival as older patients may not be candidates for a stem cell transplant but the average is probably around 5-6 years. People surviving 10 or more years is not uncommon.