Special Considerations for Supportive Care and Management of Complications in Elderly Patients With Multiple Myeloma

Multiple myeloma is a progressive and incurable hematologic malignancy. It is predominantly a disease of older individuals, with a third of these patients considered to be elderly. In recent years, there has been a focus and emphasis on identifying and stratifying patients based on their functional status and frailty. There are several hallmark complications of the disease—hypercalcemia, renal insufficiency, anemia, bone pain—along with thromboembolism and compromised immunity that are common in patients with multiple myeloma. Due to the wide range of patient ages and functional status, there are, accordingly, different considerations for management of the above complications based on numerous factors, including frailty status. This review focuses on considerations and management of common complications of multiple myeloma in elderly patients. These include renal failure, skeletal complications, anemia, thromboembolism, and infectious complications.