Waldenström Macroglobulinemia

You are at the center of everything we do at Fred Hutch Cancer Center. Here, we surround you with a team of specialists who work together closely to provide expert care and compassionate support throughout your treatment and beyond.

We guide you every step of the way, combining our deep clinical expertise in Waldenström macroglobulinemia (WM) with a commitment to meet your unique needs.

Why Choose Fred Hutch?

Experienced Diagnosis and Care

Because WM is so rare, most hematologist-oncologists in the community have seen only a handful of people with this condition. At Fred Hutch, we’ve treated more than 200 people with WM in the past five years — experience that translates into state-of-the-art diagnosis and care for you. 

Comprehensive WM Treatment

Although WM is lymphoma, it’s a unique type, and many of the usual tenets of lymphoma care do not apply. To receive the most effective treatment for your disease — and avoid overtreatment — it’s important to see doctors with expertise in WM, like our team at Fred Hutch. We provide all forms of treatment for this disease.

Advancing New Approaches

Along with offering the latest chemotherapies, targeted therapies and immunotherapies, we’re involved in WM clinical trials to develop new options to suppress or kill WM cells. To advance care for patients everywhere, we collaborate with WM experts at other research and treatment centers.

Bone Marrow Transplant for WM

The Fred Hutch Blood and Marrow Transplant Program consistently achieves higher-than-expected transplant survival rates. We pioneered blood and marrow transplants and have performed more than any other institution in the world. Dr. David Maloney is an international expert in transplants for WM.

A National Leader in Cancer Care

Fred Hutch is the leading cancer treatment center in the region and among the top nationally, according to U.S. News & World Report.

NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center

We are a comprehensive cancer center, a designation from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) that reflects our scientific leadership and the depth and breadth of our research to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer.

Learn About WM

WM, also known as lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma, is one type of cancer of the lymph system. Like other lymphomas, WM occurs because something goes wrong inside your lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell made in your bone marrow and found in your blood and lymph tissue.

Facts & Resources

Treatment for WM

Treatment for WM differs from treatment for other types of lymphoma and must be tailored to each individual. It’s important to be treated at a specialized center with expertise in WM. But because the condition is rare, many hospitals and clinics do not have much experience with it.

Treatment

WM Care Team

At Fred Hutch, you receive care from a team of providers with extensive experience in your disease. Your team includes physicians, a patient care coordinator, a registered nurse, an advanced practice provider and others, based on your needs. You also have access to experts like registered dietitians, social workers, acupuncturists, psychiatrists and more who specialize in supporting people with cancer or blood disorders.

Care Team

Latest Treatments and Clinical Trials

For WM patients, this means more treatment options at Fred Hutch than you might find elsewhere, including the chance to participate in one of many ongoing clinical trials conducted at Fred Hutch and UW Medicine.

Many patients at Fred Hutch receive promising therapies by taking part in clinical trials. These research studies are done by physician-scientists from Fred Hutch and UW Medicine. They test new treatments or new ways to use current treatments. We have participated in and contributed to many studies testing new medicines with unique ways to suppress or kill WM cells.

Every advance in cancer treatment in recent years has come out of clinical trials. We offer more active clinical trials than anywhere else, which means more treatment options for patients like you.

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