I bought a copy of Multiple Myeloma (on ebay for less than $10), edited by Gahrton & Durie. Chapter 1 is very interesting. Written by Robert Kyle, it covers a history of multiple myeloma. Some early cases are included. One patient was treated with leeches and the removal of a pound of blood. Later, he had “steel and quinine therapy,” whatever that is. Another patient received a rhubarb pill and an infusion of orange peel as her treatment in a London hospital. Both were patients of Henry Bence Jones. That’s a familiar name to those of us with MM. Bence Jones identified the protein in urine (he called it “animal matter”) that’s often seen with MM patients.
Some of the most respected MM specialists have books on myeloma being published: Anderson & Richardson, Bergsagel (ed.), Gertz & Greipp (ed.) and Berenson (ed.).