Multiple myeloma

Disease/Syndrome
Multiple myeloma
Category
More Research Needed
Acute/Chronic
Chronic
Biomedical References
Comments
"Multiple myeloma (MM) is an incurable plasma cell malignancy with a poorly understood etiology. . . . We found associations between the risk of MM and employment in several manufacturing and service-related occupations and industries." [PMID 20623662] The evidence is "suggestive" that workers exposed in the past to "non-arsenical insecticides" had an increased risk of multiple myeloma. [Siemiatycki, p. 334] "Multiple studies have provided evidence that agricultural work is associated with myeloma risk. Pesticide use may account for part of the association of agricultural work with myeloma, but there is also some evidence that other agricultural exposures including exposure to animals, may increase risk. Unfortunately, there are few data concerning the specific pesticides that should be targeted for further investigation. There is fairly consistent evidence that exposures in paint-related occupations increase myeloma risk. Whether this increased risk results from dyes and pigments, or from solvents used in paint formulations, has not been discerned." [Schottenfeld, p. 939]
Latency/Incubation
Years
Diagnostic
Serum and urine protein electrophoresis; Bone marrow; Biopsy; At least one end organ consequence: hypercalcemia, renal failure, anemia, or lytic bone lesions; [BC Cancer Agency]
ICD-9 Code
203.0
ICD-10 Code
C90

Symptoms/Findings, Job Tasks, and Agents Linked to This Disease

Agents

Hazardous agents that cause the occupational disease: