[sdenny]

CT scan with intravenous radioactive

by sdenny on Sun Nov 18, 2012 7:13 pm

Hi to everyone at the Beacon,

Thank you for reading my questions. I recently went to the doctors and had electropheresis done on serum and urine. The tests came back positive with an Mspike of 7 with detectable bence jones proteins in urine.

Mspike of 7
Kappa FLC 21mg/L (Normal is up to 20)
Lambda FLC 12mg/L (Normal up to 30)
Kappa/lambda ratio of 1.8 (Normal is 0.3-1.6)
IgG: 17.2g/L (normal is 5.2-16.0)
IgG (Kappa) 5g/L
Urinary creatinine 26.3 mmol/L (normal is 2.0-14.0)
This confirms the presence of abnormal free light chains in serum as stated on path results.
Skeletal survey was normal, however I do have compression in spine from L5-S1 which causes quite abit of pain.


Question:
1. I had a CT scan done with intravenous radioactive infusion, this came back clear, does that mean it is highly posible that when I have the bone marrow biopsy tomorrow, it will come back normal as well. I do not understand the difference between the both.

2. What am I looking at here, MGUS, smoldering multiple myeloma, amloidosis, or some other blood-bone marrow disorder. Can someone please clarify this confusion for me.

Thank you, any advice would assist
Susan Denny

[Dr. Edward Libby]

Re: CT scan with intravenous radioactive

by Dr. Edward Libby on Mon Nov 19, 2012 1:18 am

Hello Susan,
The diagnosis of symptomatic myeloma requires that a patient have one of the "CRAB" criteria.
CRAB stands for high calcium, kidney problems, anemia or bone problems. The compression fracture may well be the critical aspect of the CRAB criteria for you. However, we need to see an excess of plasma cells in your marrow to make the diagnosis. There are other reasons that patients can suffer from a compression fracture.
Your elevated m-spike suggests that this is symptomatic myeloma but the results of the bone marrow biopsy will give the ultimate confirmation. A CT scan with or without radioactive dye (PET scan) does not tell your physician whether or not you have myeloma in your bone marrow.
I wish you all the best.

[sdenny]

Re: CT scan with intravenous radioactive

by sdenny on Mon Nov 19, 2012 2:19 am

Thanks foe yor expert advice. Much appreciated, I will have to wait for test results of bm biopsy.
Thank you again
Susan Denny