[Sharon01]

Conversion, mg/l to g/l to g/dL?

by Sharon01 on Tue Dec 02, 2014 8:13 am

Hello to all,

I hope someone can help me? I obviously have a severe dose of chemo brain and I don't want to get it wrong.

As you all chat in mg/l, I am now ready to read my own reports. It has taken some time, I know.
When diagnosed the highlighted listings were as follows:

Total protein 147g/l and in brackets (60-82)
Gamma globulin 87 g/l (7-15)
Para protein conc. 1 84 g/l

Kappa IgG monoclonal paraprotein band size: 84 g/l

I was hospitalised and given a transfusion for anaemia a couple of days prior to diagnosis and had a blood transfusion. This led to more tests and a few days later the diagnosis.

My bone marrow has 'moderate to heavy plasma cell infiltrate, and I have scattered lytic lesions in my skull.

So how do I translate this to the American lingo? Where do I fit in as our doctors seem to use a language different from yours and mine (just kidding, they are great, but sometimes I can't relate).

Please help,

[Nancy Shamanna]

Re: Conversion, mg/l to g/l to g/dL?

by Nancy Shamanna on Tue Dec 02, 2014 9:12 am

Hi Sharon, Hope you are feeling a bit better from the treatments and hope I can help you with the conversions. I Iive in Canada, and I think that the units here, in the UK, and in AUS/NZ could be similar. This conclusion is just based on me reading the Beacon.

For a ratio of serum free light chains, i.e. the kappa/lambda ratio, the amount would have to be the same, since a ratio doesn't have units, its a fractional value.

A definition would be the 'paraprotein' is 'M' protein (monoclonal protein, the spike shown by electrophoresis on the SPEP test). There are different types of it, e.g. kappa, lambda. Yours appear to be of the 'kappa' variety.

In Canada the measurements are in g/l (grams/litre). Yours also seem to be in g/l, but are you sure?

The U.S. M-spike measurements are usually in g/dL (grams/decilitre). A decilitre is one tenth of a litre.

If an 'M' protein value is 10 in Canada, then it is 1 in the US. Ours is in g/l, their's is measured in g/dl, so that is a ten times dilution.

I remember when we had to switch from Imperial measurements here, over to metric, back in the 1970s. That was very confusing for everyone. Actually knowing the outdoor temperature caused the worst headaches that way, although that doesn't have anything to do with medical lab tests!

Probably others reading from AUS will have a better grasp on conversion factors though.

[Sharon01]

Re: Conversion, mg/l to g/l to g/dL?

by Sharon01 on Tue Dec 02, 2014 9:38 am

Hi Nancy,

I am on a chemo / dex day, so it's almost midnight here. Thanks for the clear up. So, just to be sure, I pretty much multiply or divide by 10.

Now I can start to see where I fit in. Is there a forum post that you are aware of that lists high risk numbers or the numbers of someone with high risk?

It is hard to get a timeline on this illness, not that I am a cup half empty type, but there is still a lot of things I need to do and see. Actually, I was in Canada in February / March, skiing in Banff and Revelstoke! Fantastic!! How on earth do you live day to day in minus 20! Here now it's almost midnight and it's 25 Celsius

We will obviously miss the season this winter.

Cheers
Sharon

[Nancy Shamanna]

Re: Conversion, mg/l to g/l to g/dL?

by Nancy Shamanna on Tue Dec 02, 2014 9:52 am

Hi Sharon, You were right at our back door here. I am in Calgary. I love the mountains, and I used to ski at Banff and Lake Louise, Nakisha, Sunshine ... there are a lot of Aussies working at our ski resorts too, that's for sure. Revelstoke is also beautiful and has the new ski hill.

I don't ski anymore due to the fact that I did get a lot of bone damage from myeloma and have a fear of falling at high speed into snow banks, lest I break a leg or something!! I used to ski every winter though. Nice snow memories, that's for sure! Hiking still works for me though. We have snowshoes now too. i should get back on my x-country skis a bit, I guess.

On the conversions, if a value was mg/l, that is actually 1000 times g/l, nest-ce pas? So an M protein of 1000 in mg/l would be the same as 1 in g/l. (1 gram = 1000 mg)

My problem with comparing lab results between different countries is that the units of measurements are not typically posted on the results sheet I get from my doctor! So that is another confusing element when trying to compare and contrast values.

So, I just look at the 'normal ranges' for my own tests, and so do the medical professionals. I usually go thru any results outside of normal ranges with both the oncology nurse and my doctor here. Then we can take it from there as to what direction to go with treatment.

I don't worry about -20C as much as I do about +30C or higher! I am acclimatized to cooler weather, and I guess you are to the hotter temps. i have really enjoyed visiting Australia also, such a lovely country!

[Multibilly]

Re: Conversion, mg/l to g/l to g/dL?

by Multibilly on Tue Dec 02, 2014 11:06 am

Google is your friend with questions like this. Any time you want to do a conversion, you can just google something like "Convert 84 g/L g/dL" and the first link you will get will be something like this: http://www.endmemo.com/medical/unitconvert/Hemoglobin.php

Just put in the 84 g/L value and you will get 8.4 g/dL (g/dL is a typical unit of measure used in the USA for M-spikes). Note that not all the labs in the USA are standardized. I have to therefore sometimes convert my lab results depending on which US lab my blood is sent to.

[Beacon Staff]

Re: Conversion, mg/l to g/l to g/dL?

by Beacon Staff on Tue Dec 02, 2014 12:57 pm

Just to summarize the discussion here:

1000 mg/l = 1 g/l = 0.1 g/dL = 100 mg/dL

This is based on these conversions:

1 gram = 1000 milligram
1 liter = 10 deciliter

Most of the time, M-spikes in the U.S. are reported in g/dL. In many other countries, the M-spikes are reported in g/L. So, to convert U.S. M-spike levels into the units usually used in other countries, multiply the U.S. M-spike by 10.

So a U.S. M-spike of 1.8 g/dL would be, for example, an M-spike of 18 g/l in Australia.

And, to go the other way and convert a non-U.S. M-spike in g/L to the typical g/dL U.S. units, divide the non-U.S. M-spike by 10.

So an M-spike in the UK of 22 g/l, for example, would be a U.S. M-spike of 2.2 g/dL.