[Ohio3]

Do kappa & lambda light chain numbers go up and down?

by Ohio3 on Fri May 08, 2015 3:49 pm

Have you noticed whether your kappa and lambda numbers go up and down? Or, once they start on an upwards trend, do they continue to increase??

[Multibilly]

Re: Do kappa & lambda light chain numbers go up and down?

by Multibilly on Fri May 08, 2015 4:28 pm

Hi Ohio3,

Welcome to the forum.

It's a bit hard for folks on this forum to comment without having some basic background on your mom's situation. What is your mom's history with multiple myeloma and is she receiving any current maintenance treatment?

Also, you really can't look at just one free light chain value in isolation (as noted in your earlier post) when trying to determine if this is a significant change or if there is any cause for concern. It would help if you provided a history over the past several months or year of your mom's M-spike (aka Mprotein, paraprotein, abnormal protein band, etc), kappa free light chain, lambda free light chain and her free light chain ratio values. Please also include the units of measure (mg/dL, etc) for each.

Folks could then better help you.

Below is a link that can give you a better idea of all the things a doctor considers when it comes to relapse in multiple myeloma (which sounded like a concern in your earlier post):

"What exactly is the definition of relapse?" (Beacon forum thread started Dec 16, 2014)

[antelope1225]

Re: Do kappa & lambda light chain numbers go up and down?

by antelope1225 on Fri May 08, 2015 7:29 pm

Hi Ohio3.

My numbers bounce around some. The ratio is the most important thing to watch.

Cathy