[joannearizona]

Growing sclerotic lesion - is it multiple myeloma?

by joannearizona on Mon Nov 07, 2016 5:15 pm

Hi,

I am Joanne. I am 53 and live in the Phoenix, Arizona area. I am waiting to talk to my doc but am hoping to get some advice here.

I have diverticulosis and had a diverticulitis flare last month. The hospital did a CT scan on October 15, 2016, which confirmed it, but also noted a sclerotic lesion on my lower spine, measuring 9 millimeters. The concerning thing is that the same lesion was noted in 2010, during a CT scan. It measured 1 millimeter then.

The ER doc asked whether I'd recently had a mammogram. I thought that was a bit odd, because I wasn't there for anything to do with breasts. I have a mammogram each year, and actually had one and a breast ultrasound in July, because I had been having breast pain. The ER doc was relieved to hear that and told me the lesion could be indicative of metastatic cancer. She referred me to my PCP and suggested a bone scan ASAP.

I saw my gynecologist and primary care physician right away. My PCP did a blood workup for autoimmune issues, including rheumatoid arthritis. Only thing that came back was high uric acid. Gynecologist did an ultrasound of ovaries and uterus. All fine. She also ordered blood work to check for certain cancers, such as breast and colon. All fine. She brought up the concern for multiple myeloma. Bone scan was done October 19. Showed arthritis as well as the sclerotic lesion. Referred to hematology/oncology and a rheumatologist, who I saw last week.

The rheumatologist examined me and said if arthritis isn't bothering me yet (it isn't), there's nothing to be done. He and his PA did say the lesion could be a bony island, but both acknowledged they usually don't increase in size like mine, and said I was in the right place with hematology following.

I got back hematology blood work results directly from lab today. Abnormal results for Free Lambda, Urine Random 0.19 (Low) and Free Kappa/Lambda Ratio 15.74 (high).

Hematologist had ordered PET scan but insurance has denied. I am working through that process now.

Lab results also say "Negative for monoclonal gammopathy" and "Normal Pattern" for PE Interpretation. I don't see M-protein results?

Thanks for reading and for any advice/info you can offer. This waiting is so painful!

[Multibilly]

Re: Growing sclerotic lesion - is it multiple myeloma?

by Multibilly on Mon Nov 07, 2016 6:34 pm

Hi Joanne,

Welcome to the forum.

Could you be a bit more specific on the details of the lab values you mentioned? In particular:

Abnormal results for Free Lambda. Was this from a blood test or urine test? What was the title of the test that this result came from and what were the lambda AND kappa values (including the units of measure) and the normal reference ranges for each?

Free Kappa/Lambda Ratio 15.74 (high). Again, was this from a blood test or urine test? What was the title of the test that this result came from, and what was the normal reference range that was cited?

Lab results also say "Negative for monoclonal gammopathy". Again, was this from a blood test or urine test? What was the title of the test that this result came from?