I have been diagnosed with SMM over a year ago had full body scan no bone lesions other blood work was off but not really bad?
M spike of 8.2
NOW
HIGH levels of light chains
M spike is 9
What does high level of light chains mean? Can you have high levels of light chains that are normal and mean nothing?
Oncologist running more tests return to her next week for results... would like to be informed a bit by then.
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Re: High levels of light chains with an M-spike of 9?
In my case my light chains hit 300 and my mspike was 8 when I really got sick and they figured out it was multiple myeloma. I did have multiple bone lesions that were not in the full body xray but were found via MRI. In my particular case it was in my hip and femur. I had radiation to clear those lesions up as it was impacting my ability to walk. Jerry.
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JBarnes - Name: Jerry Barnes
- Who do you know with myeloma?: Self
- When were you/they diagnosed?: Aug 17, 2012
- Age at diagnosis: 54
Re: High levels of light chains with an M-spike of 9?
Hey Sugaree (can't help thinking about the Grateful Dead song),
Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, but folks here can help.
Not sure what you mean by your other bloodwork was "off, but not bad". What is "off" and by how much?
Is your doc a specialist that works a LOT with multiple myeloma? Seeing a specialist that sees MANY multiple myeloma patients is probably the most important thing you can do in your treatment.
In particular, you want to look for CRAB (high calcium, renal insufficiency, anemia, bone lesions). Sounds like you are initially clear on the "bone lesion" side of things. Do you have low Hgb or high calcium in your lab report?
In any case, CRAB is what will classify you as symptomatic and is usually what requires one to start treatment, although if you have a really high presence of abnormal plasma cells in your bone marrow, that could also come into play.
With free light chains (FLCs), what generally matters is the ratio of kappa to lambda FLCs, not so much the absolute value of one of the FLCs. You can either be below or above the acceptable range for this ratio depending on which FLC type is dominating. This data and ratio is probably on your lab report.
As part of your tests going forward, you are really going to want to get a bone marrow biopsy (BMB) and some genetic tests (FISH, etc) as part that procedure to see what is going on with your plasma cells in your bone marrow and to give you an idea about prognosis in the long run. This is going to tell you a lot about where the disease is at.
You may want to also ask about a PET/CT scan to confirm if you truly don't have bone lesions. Based on some recent data from one respected multiple myeloma doctor, Xrays have been shown to miss lytic lesions in SMM patients about 30% of the time .
Best of luck to you.
Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, but folks here can help.
Not sure what you mean by your other bloodwork was "off, but not bad". What is "off" and by how much?
Is your doc a specialist that works a LOT with multiple myeloma? Seeing a specialist that sees MANY multiple myeloma patients is probably the most important thing you can do in your treatment.
In particular, you want to look for CRAB (high calcium, renal insufficiency, anemia, bone lesions). Sounds like you are initially clear on the "bone lesion" side of things. Do you have low Hgb or high calcium in your lab report?
In any case, CRAB is what will classify you as symptomatic and is usually what requires one to start treatment, although if you have a really high presence of abnormal plasma cells in your bone marrow, that could also come into play.
With free light chains (FLCs), what generally matters is the ratio of kappa to lambda FLCs, not so much the absolute value of one of the FLCs. You can either be below or above the acceptable range for this ratio depending on which FLC type is dominating. This data and ratio is probably on your lab report.
As part of your tests going forward, you are really going to want to get a bone marrow biopsy (BMB) and some genetic tests (FISH, etc) as part that procedure to see what is going on with your plasma cells in your bone marrow and to give you an idea about prognosis in the long run. This is going to tell you a lot about where the disease is at.
You may want to also ask about a PET/CT scan to confirm if you truly don't have bone lesions. Based on some recent data from one respected multiple myeloma doctor, Xrays have been shown to miss lytic lesions in SMM patients about 30% of the time .
Best of luck to you.
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Multibilly - Name: Multibilly
- Who do you know with myeloma?: Me
- When were you/they diagnosed?: Smoldering, Nov, 2012
Re: High levels of light chains with an M-spike of 9?
BTW, you need to be careful and include the units when talking about your numbers.
Is your M-spike reported in g/l or g/dl? Makes a difference of 10x. Different labs use different units. You will often have to convert your numbers to follow things and match them to the publications you are reading.
Is your M-spike reported in g/l or g/dl? Makes a difference of 10x. Different labs use different units. You will often have to convert your numbers to follow things and match them to the publications you are reading.
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Multibilly - Name: Multibilly
- Who do you know with myeloma?: Me
- When were you/they diagnosed?: Smoldering, Nov, 2012
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