C'mon kevin get the books out !! this desease is not that mysterious It can hovever be a little confusing. Remember I do not have M/M but I learn fast ! As I explained to my brother ..... multiple myeloma can be understood in an analogy like this: I am a amateur meterologist and as i explained... A Hurricane can be like multiple myeloma a hurricane has to have winds of 74 MPH or more and it is a hurricane but a hurricane can have wind gusts over 250 Mph and it is still a hurricane .My point is Multiple Myeloma comes in MANY forms and yes it is still Multiple Myeloma but it ends right there. When there are chromosome deletions or complications of certain chromosomes IE.13 11 14 17 this is also complicated my the type IgG IGl IgC among many others when you mix these in combinations well you do the math.....Now when there are chromosome issues AND type IGg this form of hurricane has winds of 250+++ MPH This storm will be very difficult to weather.!! Now to your question.. Velcade has been shown to have very similar outcomes and will provide similar prognosis (in the short term) for high and low risk paitents Time to progression and progression to partial remission are almost the same,however complete remission is very unlikely to be achieved in "high risk"multiple Myelloma even with velcade but with refractory M/M velcade has been shown to be best front line defense. We have been speaking of a patient at Yale who responded to nothing and i mean nothing he went to stage 3-B with 13 and 11 deletions and IGg was given Velcade with minimal neuropathy and could not qualify (because of myeloma load) for stem cell transplant IS IN HIS 39 th MONTH and PLAYING BASKETBALL 3 TIMES A WEEK.!! These results are typical in this group (high risk) there are many studies to prove this.The only way remission can be achieved over the long term is "Allo" transplant. You must remember none of us has a 'expiration date' and doctors speak of the average and there are always those above and below the prognosis.In order to do a "ALLO" the paitent must have a Myeloma Load under 5%and IGg under 800 if this can not be achieved the remission period will be substantally lower. Hope this helps. Ron