[shaznics]

Trying to understand the latest protein blood results

by shaznics on Sat Sep 07, 2013 6:34 pm

Hello Everyone

I am hoping someone could help me better understand the protein studies in more detail.
Which are the important markers below and what do they mean?

Albumin - 35 g/l
Alpha 1 - 4 g/l
Alpha 2 - 8 g/l
Beta 1 - 3 g/l
Beta 2 - 3 g/l
Gamma - 1 g/l
Abnormal Band 1 - Abn Band
Quantitation 1 - 37 g/l
Protein - 89 g/l
Immunofixation - lgG K *
IgG - 51 g/l
IgA - 0.12 g/l
IgM - 0.10 g/l
Kappa FLC - 68 mg/L
Lambda FLC - 5 mg/L
K/L Ratio - 13

Also which is the m-spike?

The current retreatment is VCD. Thanks in advance for your help!

[dnalex]

Re: Trying to understand the latest protein blood results

by dnalex on Sat Sep 07, 2013 10:54 pm

Hello,

I am not qualified to point out all of what may or may not be important here, but it does looking like you are making higher than normal range amounts of IgG Kappa.

There is no measure for the M protein in the results.

Alex

[Dr. Ken Shain]

Re: Trying to understand the latest protein blood results

by Dr. Ken Shain on Sun Sep 08, 2013 11:18 am

The truth is that the labs are not labeled in a very patient friendly (or MD at least in my case) fashion- a I do not see a labeled quantified serum M-spike there either. With your IgG being elevated at 51g/L (5100mg/dL -the units that i usually see) indicates that you still have a significant M-spike- likely in the 3-4 g/dL (30-40g/L) area. Therefore, my assumption is that "Quantitation 1" 37g/L is your serum M-spike.

Hopefully, this represents a decrease in paraportein while receiving VCD- a very nice regimen for multiple myeloma.

Best of luck.

[shaznics]

Re: Trying to understand the latest protein blood results

by shaznics on Sun Sep 08, 2013 6:57 pm

Thank you! That would make sense as doctor said that his levels had dropped from 78 to 37, but I did not know if the quantitation was the label as it was not labelled m spike or similar.

The drop is after 2 cycles of VCD. Is this quite good?