Multiple myeloma (MM) is a heterogeneous disease that until now has been considered incurable, even in the younger population (1,2). However, recent data show an increase in the number of MM patients who have achieved what is called an “operational cure” due to innovative treatments and diagnostic and follow-up alternatives, something that has become a hope in oncologic hematology (3,4). The strategies that have been determinant in the improvement of survival and quality of life in most patients are the use of combined and targeted treatment modalities from the onset of the disease, especially in patients at high biological risk (4-6), high-dose chemotherapy, and autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) (7,8), which helped obtain deeper responses by achieving the negativization of minimal residual disease (MRD), continuous therapy to control MRD when it persists (9), improved techniques for early detection of relapses (6), the use of novel therapies in relapse cases, especially immune effector cell therapy (8), and finally the possibility of access to novel drugs in the context of standard of care or clinical trials (10).
The Instituto Nacional de Cancerología (INC) (Bogotá, Colombia) —an accredited health institution whose mission is to work for the integral control of cancer through patient attention and care, research, training of human talent, and the development of public health actions— has bet not only on the consolidation of functional cancer units but also on the attention of patients through centers of excellence (CE). In this regard, the Centro de Excelencia en Mieloma Múltiple del Instituto Nacional de Cancerología (CEMMINC) was a pioneer in the group of hematologic neoplasms (11). This CE is coordinated and run by professionals trained and dedicated exclusively to the care of MM and related diseases, a model that has been extraordinarily efficient in the best cancer centers in Canada, the United States, and Europe (12-15).