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What is Myeloma

Best Multiple Myeloma Doctor in Bangalore
Best Multiple Myeloma Doctor in Bangalore

Best Multiple Myeloma Doctor in Bangalore |Dr Murali Subramanian

Signs and Symptoms of Multiple Myeloma

Patients with Myeloma may have no symptoms at all. Some patients may have the following symptoms

Bone issues

  • Pain in the bone, especially the hips, skull, or back.
  • Weakness in the bone 
  • Broken bones (fractures)

Low blood counts

Usually, Myeloma causes a shortage of red blood cells, white blood cells, and blood platelets. This may lead to the following conditions

  • Anemia: A disease arising out of a reduced number of red blood cells. It can cause weakness, shortness of breath, and dizziness.
  • Leukopenia: A condition arising out of a reduced number of white blood cells that can lower resistance to infections.
  • Thrombocytopenia: A condition arising out of low blood platelet count, which may cause severe bleeding.

High levels of calcium

High levels of calcium in the blood lead to hypercalcemia. This may cause:

  • Extreme thirst
  • Increase in Urinating 
  • Dehydration
  • Kidney problems 
  • Severe constipation
  • Abdominal pain
  • Loss of appetite
  • Weakness
  • Feeling drowsy
  • Confusion

Nervous system issues

If spinal bones become weak due to Myeloma, the condition is known as spinal cord compression and may cause the following symptoms to weaken the bones in the spine,  

  • Sudden severe back pain
  • Numbness in the legs
  • Muscle weakness in the legs.

Spinal cord compression is an emergency, and the patient needs to be immediately shifted to the emergency room to avoid permanent paralysis.

Damage to nerves

Myeloma may also cause weakness and numbness in the nerves and cause the pins and needles sensation. This condition is called peripheral neuropathy.

Hyperviscosity

Myeloma may sometimes cause a condition known as hyperviscosity, which is a condition in which the blood gets too thick, leading to less blood flowing into the brain. This may lead to the following symptoms

  • Confusion
  • Dizziness
  • Weakness on one side of the body
  • Slurred speech

If anybody gets these symptoms, they must consult their doctor immediately. Plasmapheresis is a procedure in which the protein from the blood is removed to reverse the problem.

Kidney issues

Myeloma is known to damage the kidneys. You must remember that in the early stages, the patient has no symptoms, but if the patient is advised a blood test or urine test, the kidneys’ damage can be assessed. This can lead to symptoms such as:

  • Weakness
  • Shortness of breath
  • Itching
  • Leg swelling.

Infections

Patients with Myeloma are much more likely to get infections. Patients suffering from Myeloma must take care not to get infected as their body may be slow to respond to treatment. A severe disease that is seen in these patients is Pneumonia.

 The key to defeat Myeloma is early diagnosis and treatment.

Book your appointment with Dr. Murali Subramanian for Best Multiple Myeloma Doctor in Bangalore today: +91 9686418750.

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Bone Marrow Transplant

Bone marrow transplant-Dr.Murali Subramanian
Bone marrow transplant-Dr.Murali Subramanian

Bone marrow transplant in Bangalore | Dr. Murali Subramanian

What Is a Bone Marrow Transplant?

A bone marrow transplant is a procedure that is performed to replace the bone marrow that may have been damaged either by disease or by treatments such as chemotherapy. Bone marrow transplant involves promoting the growth of new bone marrow. Bone marrow is the fatty tissue inside the bone. Fresh and healthy blood stem cells are transplanted when damage to the cells occurs due to various reasons. 

Bone marrow is essential because they help in the following.

  • Manage red blood cells, which carry oxygen and nutrients throughout the body
  • Manage white blood cells, which fight infection
  • Manage platelets, which are responsible for the formation of clots

The healthy stem cells required for this procedure may be from a donor or the patient’s body. Sometimes the stem cells are harvested and stored before the chemotherapy and transplanted later.

Who Needs a Bone Marrow Transplant

A patient whose stems cells are damaged due to chronic infections, disease, or cancer treatments such as chemotherapy can undergo bone marrow transplant. Some reasons for a bone marrow transplant procedure include:

  • Aplastic anaemia: A condition in which the bone marrow stops making blood cells
  • Leukaemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma
  • Chemotherapy
  • Congenital neutropenia
  • Sickle cell anaemia: A condition that causes misshapen red blood cells
  • Thalassemia: A situation where the body makes an abnormal form of haemoglobin

Types of Bone Marrow Transplant

  • Autologous Transplants

This type of bone marrow transplants uses the patient’s stem cells. For this procedure, healthy cells are harvested and stored before beginning a process that may damage the stem cells. After the treatment, the stored cells are transplanted back.

This is a safer procedure as it reduces the risk of some severe complications.

  • Allogeneic Transplants

Allogeneic transplants use a donor’s cells. The donor cells must match genetically; hence a close family member is the first choice. 

Patients undergoing this procedure, have a higher risk of certain complications and will also be put on medications to suppress the immune system. This is because the recipient’s body might reject the donor cells as foreign bodies. Suppression of the immune system might make the patient susceptible to other infections. 

How to Prepare for a Bone Marrow Transplant

The patient needs to undergo several tests to identify what type of bone marrow cells is required. Also, the patient must take extreme precautions as the immune system is suppressed.

It is essential to discuss with your doctor about any concerns you may have. Doctors can clarify all the doubts, fear, and anxieties that a patient or a loved one may have. It is essential to be prepared and aware of potential side-effects.

Book your appointment with Dr. Murali Subramanian – Today for Best Bone marrow transplant in Bangalore by contact us on +91 9880522891 or Check out our Social Media page!

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Role of Immunotherapy in the treatment of cancer

Best Immunotherapy Doctor in Bangalore
Best Immunotherapy Doctor in Bangalore

Best Immunotherapy Doctor in Bangalore|Dr. Murali Subramanian

What is Immunotherapy?

Immunotherapy is a type of biological treatment that uses the person’s own immune system to fight cancer. The immune system consists of white blood cells and other organs and tissues of the lymph system that helps your body fight infections and other diseases.

How does immunotherapy work against cancer?

Immunotherapy: How the Immune System Fights Cancer

Normally, in a healthy body, the immune system detects and destroys abnormal cells. Immune cells are found in and around tumors sometimes and this is a good sign. This shows that the patient’s immune system is fighting the abnormal cancer cells. These cells are called tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes or TILs.

But even with the presence of these immune system cells, the cancer cells can grow. Some of the reasons for this are-

  1. Cancer cells have undergone some genetic changes that make them invisible to the immune system.
  2. Cancer cells have certain proteins on their surface that can make immune cells less effective.
  3. Cancer cells can make the normal cells around the tumour to interfere with the normal functioning of the immune system.

In such cases, immunotherapy helps the immune system to better fight against cancer.

What are the types of immunotherapy?

There are different types of immunotherapy

Immune checkpoint inhibitors :

Drugs administered to cancer patients to block immune checkpoints. Our body has these immune checkpoints normally to stop the immune system from responding strongly. Immune checkpoint inhibitors allow immune cells to respond more strongly than normally to fight the cancer cells.

T-cell transfer therapy:

As the name suggests, this therapy helps the T-cells to fight the cancer cells in a more effective manner. In this treatment ( also known as adoptive immunotherapy or adoptive cell therapy ), immune cells are taken from your tumour. This therapy involves retrieving the healthy cells from your tumour that are highly effective in fighting the cancer cells. These cells are grown and made more effective in a lab and then re-introduced back into the body.

Therapeutic antibodies:

This is a type of immunotherapy that involves lab designed immune system proteins that can bind to cancer cells. In some cases, the monoclonal antibodies are designed to make the cancer cells more conspicuous so that they will be more visible to the body’s immune system.

Treatment vaccines: These vaccines are not the same as the vaccines used to prevent diseases. They are used to boost the patient’s immune system to fight against cancer cells.

Immune system modulators : These modulators can be designed to either help boost specific areas of the immune system or the whole immune system.

How is immunotherapy given?

The various types of immunotherapy may be given in different ways.

  • Intravenous (IV)

The immunotherapy goes directly into a vein.

  • Oral

The immunotherapy comes in pills or capsules that patients can swallow.

  • Topical

This tropical way involves application of simple cream on the body and can be used for early cancer.

  • Intravesical

The immunotherapy drugs goes directly into the bladder.

Where do you go for immunotherapy?

Patients can undergo immunotherapy treatment in a doctor’s clinic or outpatient unit in a hospital depending on the type. It does not require the patient to stay in the hospital.

To undergo immunotherapy treatment contact Dr Murali Subramanian, Best Immunotherapy Doctor in Bangalore

How often do patients need immunotherapy?

The treatment process of immunotherapy and the time period will depend on the following factors.

  • Type of cancer
  • Stage of cancer
  • Type of immunotherapy
  • The body’s response to treatment

Immunotherapy may be given in cycles. A cycle in any treatment refers to a period of treatment followed by a period of rest. The rest period is necessary to give your body a chance to recover.

How can you tell if immunotherapy is working?

Doctors, trained to work on immunotherapy can tell you if this particular mode of treatment is helping or not. If the doctor observes that immunotherapy techniques are yielding good results in fighting cancer then they will conduct frequent examinations and medical tests to assess the size of the tumour.

Further research on immunotherapy techniques will help the medical team get a better understanding of how cancer cells  the immune system could lead to the development of new drugs that block those processes.

Book your appointment with Dr. Murali Subramanian – Today:+91 9880522891 for Best Immunotherapy Doctor in Bangalore or Check out our Facebook page!

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Targeted therapy

Targeted Cancer Therapy in Bangalore
Targeted Cancer Therapy in Bangalore

Targeted Cancer Therapy in Bangalore | Dr Murali Subramanian

All of you must have heard about chemotherapy. Chemotherapy may sometimes destroy healthy cells as well. But targeted therapy attacks only cancer cells.

What is targeted therapy?

Targeted therapy targets proteins that are responsible for how cancer cells divide, spread, and grow. Advanced research carried out in this field is helping the medical world design more efficient treatments. Research states this therapy as the basis of precision medicine and has led to extensive study in DNA changes and proteins that control cancer cells.

What are the types of targeted therapy?

There are two types of targeted therapy

  1. Small-molecule drugs are used for targeting proteins inside the cells as they are small enough to enter cells.
  2. Therapeutic antibodies are proteins made in the lab. These proteins are produced to attach to specific targets on cancer cells. These monoclonal antibodies are designed for different purposes. Either they may be designed to attach to proteins or to attack cancer cells directly.

How does targeted therapy work against cancer?

Targeted therapy treat cancer in many ways.

  • They can either help the body’s natural immune system destroy cancer cells. 
  • They can help prevent growth of cancer cells
  • They can help tumour blood vessels die
  • Deliver toxins to cancer cells
  • Kills the cancer cells
  • Or even stop releasing of hormones that help cancer cells grow

What are the side effects of targeted therapy?

Some of the Targeted therapy side effects include diarrhea, mouth sores, loss of hair, fatigue, and skin problems such as rashes or dry skin.

How is targeted therapy given?

Targeted therapy is given either as Oral pill or Monoclonal antibodies which is given intravenously.

Where do I go for targeted therapy?

Targeted therapy does not require overnight hospitalization. They are generally given as day-care therapy or sometimes as all patient therapy.

How often should the patient receive targeted therapy?

How long the patient receives targeted therapy depends on the stage of cancer and how the patient’s body responds to the treatment. Targeted therapy can be given in cycles( This refers to a period of treatment followed by a period of rest ) or oral continuous therapy.

How will the patient know if targeted therapy is working?

Doctors will continuously monitor the tumor and other factors with the help of scans and blood tests during the targeted therapy. This way the doctors can assess the effectiveness of the treatment.

Book your appointment with Dr. Murali Subramanian – Today:+91 9880522891 for Best Targeted cancer therapy in Bangalore or Check out our Facebook page!

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Can Cervical Cancer Be Prevented?

Doctor for Cervical Cancer in Bangalore
Doctor for Cervical Cancer in Bangalore

Doctor for Cervical Cancer in Bangalore | Dr. Murali Subramanian

In this blog we will be discussing an important topic that is very common in women.

Let me start with a story.

Ananya was growing up fast, Soumya thought as she saw her little girl folding up her clothes and placing it neatly in her wardrobe. Soumya let out a huge sigh. Soumya and Arvind had been good parents to Ananya.

 It had been the best day of their life, holding baby Ananya, their little bundle of joy for the first time. They had made an unspoken promise that day, that they would give the best life to Ananya. Every single day, they had kept their promise.

The question is – like most parents, are Ananya’s parents unaware or ignorant of a hidden danger? The hidden danger that could haunt their precious angel is called cervical cancer.

Would you believe, if I told you that cervical cancer is the most frequent cancer in Indian women?

Precaution is better than Cure. In this blog, we will try to highlight everything that we should know about – How to prevent cervical cancer?

What Is Cervical Cancer?

When cells grow abnormally in a woman’s cervix, which connects her uterus with her vagina, it is called cervical cancer. This Cancer may spread to other parts of her body, often the lungs, liver, bladder, vagina, and rectum.

What causes Cervical Cancer?

We have seen that most often, Cervical Cancer is caused by infection with a type of virus called human papillomavirus (HPV). This is easily preventable with a vaccine. According to research, 70% of sexually active adults are likely to be infected with at least one HPV type. The good news is that majority of the infections resolve and only a small part of the HPV infections progress to cancer. 

In this type of cancer, the cells are not too aggressive and grow slowly. Hence there’s usually time to find and treat it before it causes serious problems.

Women 35 to 44 years old are most likely to get it.

Who develops cervical Cancer?

Anyone with a cervix can get cervical cancer. Irrespective of whether the individual is pregnant, post-menopausal, or is sexually inactive, they need to get the screening done.

Risk Factors

  • Early sex – Sex before age 16 or soon after reaching puberty
  • Multiple sexual partners
  • Birth control pills for long periods
  • Smoking
  • Weak immune system
  • Suffering from a sexually transmitted disease (STD)

How do you know if you have it?

Early cervical cancer doesn’t usually cause symptoms, so you probably won’t realize you have it. That’s why it’s so important to get regular screening tests.

Remember that you might not notice symptoms of cervical cancer until it has spread. A few signs to watch out for are

  • Pain when you have sex
  • Unexplained vaginal bleeding, such as between periods, after sex, during menopause
  • Abnormal vaginal discharge

Also, the symptoms after the spread of cervical cancer that you need to be aware of are :

  • Pelvic pain
  • Trouble while urinating
  • Swollen legs
  • Kidney issues
  • Bone pain
  • Weight loss and loss of appetite
  • Unexplained Fatigue

Remember that these symptoms don’t mean you have cervical cancer, and they could just be signs of some other medical conditions.

One of the most frequently asked question- “Is there anything you can do to prevent it?”

Some risk factors, such as family history, can’t be changed. But remember that there are a few lifestyle changes you can make to lower your risk.

1-Screening-

I recommend, my dear friends that you get regular check-ups and Pap tests done to prevent cervical Cancer 

2-Vaccination

Vaccination against HPV is advised for females who are between 9 to 26 to prevent cervical cancer. But this vaccination is found to be effective when given to people who are not infected with the virus. Hence I recommend that boys and girls need to get the vaccination before they’re sexually active.

What’s the overall outlook?

Cervical Cancer is a slow-growing, but life-threatening disease, if left undiagnosed. Thanks to modern-day screening techniques, you are more likely to discover precancerous cells that can be removed before they get the chance to develop into Cancer.

Take away

The key to defeat cervical cancer is early diagnosis and treatment. 

Book your appointment with Dr. Murali Subramanian – Today:+91 9880522891 for Best Doctor for Cervical Cancer in Bangalore or Check out our Facebook page!

Also Refer:

Targeted therapy