I have been scouring over all of my husband's test results and something recently occurred to me. I have noticed that on Comprehensive Metabolic Panel my husband's albumin reading is 3.6 g/dl, but then on the SPEP the reading is 3.33 g/dl.
Why the difference and what does it mean?
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Melanie - Name: Melanie
- Who do you know with myeloma?: husband
- When were you/they diagnosed?: July 2014
- Age at diagnosis: 54
Re: Difference in albumin results on CMP & SPEP
I also noticed this discrepancy and spoke with a nurse from the IMF about it. She told me on the SPEP the readings are exact and on the CMP they are more of an estimate.
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blair77 - Who do you know with myeloma?: My husband
- When were you/they diagnosed?: April 2013
- Age at diagnosis: 43
Re: Difference in albumin results on CMP & SPEP
Hi Melanie,
The value from the CMP is the more accurate measure of your albumin.
You probably won't be surprised to hear that this question has come up in the forum before. See, for example, these discussions:
"Albumin test results - a 'huh, that's odd' question," forum disc. started Sep 18, 2014, and
"Albumin: Serum Protein Electrophoresis vs. CBC Values," forum disc. started Oct 7, 2013
The key feedback is this posting from one of those discussions; it gives the following helpful explanation:
There are some additional discussions about albumin here in the forum that you can find by typing "albumin" into the search box at the top of the forum.
Hope that helps a bit.
The value from the CMP is the more accurate measure of your albumin.
You probably won't be surprised to hear that this question has come up in the forum before. See, for example, these discussions:
"Albumin test results - a 'huh, that's odd' question," forum disc. started Sep 18, 2014, and
"Albumin: Serum Protein Electrophoresis vs. CBC Values," forum disc. started Oct 7, 2013
The key feedback is this posting from one of those discussions; it gives the following helpful explanation:
The reason for the difference is the following:
The SPE value for albumin is INDIRECT, because it is based only on the direct total protein value from the Metabolic Panel. This is why the sum of all the values from the SPEP equals the total protein value. Check it out. It is not a coincidence.
So if your DIRECT protein value is higher on a particular blood draw day so will be the INDIRECT albumin value (and all other SPE values for that matter). The SPEP albumin value is therefore deemed less accurate and less reliable for this reason.
In contrast, the albumin value in the Metabolic Panel has its own DIRECT measurement method and so is deemed more accurate and reliable."
There are some additional discussions about albumin here in the forum that you can find by typing "albumin" into the search box at the top of the forum.
Hope that helps a bit.
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Jonah
Re: Difference in albumin results on CMP & SPEP
Oops! I guess I had this backwards! Sorry!
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blair77 - Who do you know with myeloma?: My husband
- When were you/they diagnosed?: April 2013
- Age at diagnosis: 43
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