Benefits of the CRAB Project

It is the heterogeneity of initial clinical presentations as well as the relative rarity of the plasma cell malignancy – multiple myeloma (MM) – which most frequently lead to a belated diagnosis. All too often the diagnosis of MM is not established before irreversible complications have developed.
A survey carried out in the Czech Republic in 2007 showed that
21% of patients have a neurological deficiency due to spinal cord oppression at the time of diagnosis!!!
37% of patients have a pathological fracture at the time of diagnosis!!!
9% of patients are on haemodialysis due to myeloma kidney unrecognized in time when establishing the diagnosis!!!
40% are not diagnosed until after 3 months since visiting their primary care physician!!!

The ultimate goal of the CRAB Project is to change this.
In its first phase, the project was targeted primarily at general practitioners visited most often by patients with their symptoms.

Improvement in the rate of timely and proper diagnosis by 7% was achieved as early as 6 months into this nationwide project aimed particularly at educating general practitioners.

The project will be further evaluated in early 2011 determining the rate of timely multiple myeloma detection in the Czech Republic in the year 2010.