Can Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia Be Prevented?
Most of the risk factors for Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia (WM), such as older age or monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), can’t be changed or controlled, so there is no way to prevent cancers that might be related to these risk factors.
Some research suggests that people with hepatitis C might be more likely to develop WM. There is currently no vaccine to prevent hepatitis C, but there are ways to lower your risk of getting it, such as avoiding known risk factors like injection drug use or unprotected sex with many partners. Hepatitis C can also be treated effectively in many cases, although it’s not known how this might affect a person’s risk of WM.
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The American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team
Our team is made up of doctors and oncology certified nurses with deep knowledge of cancer care as well as editors and translators with extensive experience in medical writing.
Giordano TP, Henderson L, Landgren O, et al. Risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and lymphoproliferative precursor diseases in US veterans with hepatitis C virus. JAMA. 2007;297:2010–2017.
Rajkumar SV, Dispenzieri A. Chapter 104: Multiple myeloma and related disorders. In: Niederhuber JE, Armitage JO, Dorshow JH, Kastan MB, Tepper JE, eds. Abeloff’s Clinical Oncology. 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa. Elsevier: 2014.
Last Revised: July 19, 2018
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