Hello everyone,
I recently had bloodwork done to try to figure out why my right fingers and toes swell up. Everything was normal except for the free light chain assay. I didn't get any explanation of it from my doctor, though, so I have been researching it myself.
My results:
Kappa Free Light Chain- 0.71 (normal)
Lamba Free Light Chain- 0.21 (low)
Kap/Lam Free Light Chain Ratio- 3.38 (high)
The doctor wrote in a note saying "Proteins in the blood need to be monitored". I have not received any diagnosis.
Could this be and early stage non-secretory myeloma?
Igg, Iga and Igm levels were normal. Calcium and albumin levels were also normal.
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Re: Understanding free light chain assay results
Hi Krissalee,
This is a good link for doing a very rough interpretation of free light chain results:
http://www.thebindingsite.com/interpretation-of-freelite-results
It suggests that the interpretation of your results might be monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) with bone marrow suppression.
However, given that your protein levels are within normal ranges, this would appear not to apply unless, as you say, you are non-secretory, which as you probably know, is quite rare.
It might be worthwhile scheduling a consultation with a hematologist/oncologist to see what they think of your lab results, and to find out if perhaps it makes sense to do an MRI or PET/CT to see if there really is anything going on in your bone marrow.
If I were you, and if making such an appointment were a relatively easy thing to do, it's probably what I would do.
If you haven't already been there, the Wikipedia information about multiple myeloma and the distinction between MGUS, smoldering myeloma, and multiple myeloma is a very good starting point for someone in your situation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_myeloma#Diagnostic_criteria
Also, there is also a more detailed website for reading up on free light chain results,
http://www.wikilite.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
but it may be far too detailed for your purposes at this point.
Have you found out any other information about your lab results that you can share with us that might help us guide you further?
This is a good link for doing a very rough interpretation of free light chain results:
http://www.thebindingsite.com/interpretation-of-freelite-results
It suggests that the interpretation of your results might be monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) with bone marrow suppression.
However, given that your protein levels are within normal ranges, this would appear not to apply unless, as you say, you are non-secretory, which as you probably know, is quite rare.
It might be worthwhile scheduling a consultation with a hematologist/oncologist to see what they think of your lab results, and to find out if perhaps it makes sense to do an MRI or PET/CT to see if there really is anything going on in your bone marrow.
If I were you, and if making such an appointment were a relatively easy thing to do, it's probably what I would do.
If you haven't already been there, the Wikipedia information about multiple myeloma and the distinction between MGUS, smoldering myeloma, and multiple myeloma is a very good starting point for someone in your situation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_myeloma#Diagnostic_criteria
Also, there is also a more detailed website for reading up on free light chain results,
http://www.wikilite.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
but it may be far too detailed for your purposes at this point.
Have you found out any other information about your lab results that you can share with us that might help us guide you further?
2 posts
• Page 1 of 1