[RayGunter]

Suspicious band on SPEP - have you had one?

by RayGunter on Wed Feb 25, 2015 12:34 am

Hi all,

Diagnosed at age 38 in 2011, sCR in 2012, everything totally clean. In September last year, they ran all the blood tests and everything was perfect except the SPEP, and it showed a "Suspicious monoclonal IgG kappa". I still don't have an m-spike.

Back in 2011-12, I went from having M-spike, to the suspicious band, to having no bands found. That lasted about 2 years or so. now the suspicious band is back. Was on my January checkup as well.

My question for you all is: How many of you have had a result like this, and how long did it stay that way?

I know the inevitable is that the disease will come back, I'm just curious how common this is and if it can stay this way for a long time.

Also have amyloidosis, but I don't know that that factors into this topic at all.

Thanks,
Ray

[Dr. Jason Valent]

Re: Suspicious band on SPEP - have you had one?

by Dr. Jason Valent on Wed Feb 25, 2015 1:27 pm

It varies considerably as to the time when the "suspicious" band appears and when the disease truly starts to become a problem again. I have had many patients who have had such a finding and it stays that way for months / years before anything truly changes with respect to needing treatment again. For others, this can be an early sign of progression of disease.

The key is to monitor closely whenever this type of result shows up after a sCR. My approach in this situation is to continue to monitor the labs every month for a while to ensure that the M-protein is stable or to change / resume therapy should the M-protein start trending upward.