Progress in the application of minimal residual disease detection in multiple myeloma

Currently, multiple myeloma is an incurable malignant plasma cell neoplasm, and the incidence rate ranks second in terms of hematological malignancies. Most of the patients are diagnosed at an age between 65 and 74 years, with a median age of 69 years. After the introduction of novel drugs or therapeutic methods, the treatment efficacy became significantly improved in multiple myeloma patients. Minimal residual disease is considered to be the most important reason for relapse in multiple myeloma patients after complete remission, which is significantly related to progression-free survival and overall survival. Therefore, minimal residual disease testing is essential for multiple myeloma patients after treatment. Several high-sensitivity technologies are used to detect minimal residual disease both inside and outside of the bone marrow of multiple myeloma patients after treatment, including cytology technology, molecular biology, and imaging technologies. In recent years, most of these minimal residual disease monitoring assays have made great progress. In this review, we focus on the characteristics and progress of the technologies that have been applied in multiple myeloma patients.