Contrary to a widely held belief, multiple myeloma is not arare, rapidly fatal disorder that affects only elderly patients.Instead, it is the second most common hematologic cancer afternon-Hodgkin's lymphoma more than 50,000 patients inthe United States alone have the disease. About half of thesepatients received the diagnosis when they were younger than60 years of age, and increasingly, the disease is detected inpersons under the age of 40. The detection of myeloma in patientswho are relatively young and otherwise healthy has allowed theuse of increasingly aggressive and potentially more efficacioustherapies.