Hello everybody,
My mother was diagnosed with multiple myeloma 19 months ago. She did 3 chemos of dose reduced VRD-PACE in June, July and November 2012 and she went into CR. In March we decided to continue with a ASCT.
After the ASCT and between the chemos she was on no additional therapy. Because she tolerated well the treatment we decided to continue more aggressive with a second ASCT and about a month ago she started to receive Td as bridging treatment.
After she started to receive the Td as a treatment, she is experiencing extremely low sFLC . So, low that they don't give us numbers for kappa, lambda or ratio. What could that mean?
She has normal blood counts, she feels fine and her internal condition is excellent for a 74 year old woman.
Thank you a lot
Aris
Forums
5 posts
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Re: Serum free light chains extremely low
Hi Aris
It's great that your mother has had such an excellent response to treatment! I have not had SCT, but at the end of 6 cycles of CTD, my light chains, although measureable were very low and below the normal range. My consultant said at the time that if that hadn't have been my last cycle of treatment, he would have stopped it right there. Clearly, your mother has had much more intensive treatment than I have! I think it takes a while for the immune system to readjust after treatment. I experienced a fair amount of fluctuation in my light chains for the next six months, before they settled to a stable level, within normal range. I imagine you will see the same with your mother.
Best wishes
Alice
It's great that your mother has had such an excellent response to treatment! I have not had SCT, but at the end of 6 cycles of CTD, my light chains, although measureable were very low and below the normal range. My consultant said at the time that if that hadn't have been my last cycle of treatment, he would have stopped it right there. Clearly, your mother has had much more intensive treatment than I have! I think it takes a while for the immune system to readjust after treatment. I experienced a fair amount of fluctuation in my light chains for the next six months, before they settled to a stable level, within normal range. I imagine you will see the same with your mother.
Best wishes
Alice
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AliceNorth
Re: Serum free light chains extremely low
Hi Alice,
Thank you very much for your response. I really appreciate it. I hope that will be the case of my mother too. Where are you from? Where did you receive your treatment? Take care and I hope your response will last forever
Best regards
Aris
Thank you very much for your response. I really appreciate it. I hope that will be the case of my mother too. Where are you from? Where did you receive your treatment? Take care and I hope your response will last forever
Best regards
Aris
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Anonymous
Re: Serum free light chains extremely low
Was your mother's multiple myeloma initially just an M-spike with no levels of light chains? Mine was.
if so, having extremely low sFLCs most likely means supressed levels of your unaffected antibodies IgG, IgM, IgA etc. Have those levels been checked? In other words, there is always some percent of normal free light chains being produced by your normal B/plasma cells, so when normal levels are low, so too will be the free light chains.
After treatment with dex and Rev, though, my M-spike is negligible and my FLCs are squarely in the normal range.
BTW: I think having such low levels is NOT a bad thing. It means that the multiple myeloma is intact without the added genetic complications of light chain abnormalities. It is a quite rare ocurrence and a good prognostic indicator IMO.
if so, having extremely low sFLCs most likely means supressed levels of your unaffected antibodies IgG, IgM, IgA etc. Have those levels been checked? In other words, there is always some percent of normal free light chains being produced by your normal B/plasma cells, so when normal levels are low, so too will be the free light chains.
After treatment with dex and Rev, though, my M-spike is negligible and my FLCs are squarely in the normal range.
BTW: I think having such low levels is NOT a bad thing. It means that the multiple myeloma is intact without the added genetic complications of light chain abnormalities. It is a quite rare ocurrence and a good prognostic indicator IMO.
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Dan D
Re: Serum free light chains extremely low
low is never a bad thing unless there are severe infectious complications.
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Dr. Jason Valent - Name: Jason Valent, M.D.
Beacon Medical Advisor
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