The authors evaluated in a group of 56 patients with multiple myeloma the clinical impact of assessed chromosomal changes. They found a close relationship between the frequency of chromosomal deviations and the extent and activity of the disease. The authors did not detect a relationship between the frequency of karyotypic changes and the number of plasmocytes in bone marrow nor a significant difference in the incidence of hypodiploidy in different immunochemical types of multiple myeloma. Patients with chromosomal changes had a reduced response to cytostatic treatment. The authors revealed a prognostic importance of chromosomal changes, in particular of hyperdiploidy and the concurrent incidence of numerical and structural deviations. The authors discuss the relationship of monosomia of the X chromosome and the Y chromosome to the clinical picture of the disease and chromosomal findings in secondary myeloblastic leukaemia, myelodysplastic syndrome and secondary plasmocellular leukaemia.

Keywords: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Chromosome Aberrations; Female; Humans; Karyotyping; Male; Middle Aged; Multiple Myeloma /genetics/; Prognosis