[Castaway]

Confused by units used in lab results

by Castaway on Sun Sep 28, 2014 2:52 pm

I just signed up at my local hospital where my blood is drawn for access to my lab results that are contracted with my insurance. All my results are on that site since I was first diagnosed. My oncologist has been printing out my results when I have my monthly office visit. This is very handy to access these labs.

My question is that I have seen several posts here on the Beacon that show their lab results, and mine seem to be different as far as the units of measurements. For instance, mine are in gm/dl. My last labs show my albumin, alpha 1&2, beta and gamma all in normal range, but they are in gm/dl.

Also, if I am reading this correctly, it shows that my gamma globulin protein spike is still present, but has been consistently coming down every lab. It doesn't show it as a spike but as Peak1 and it is at 0.24 gm/dl. My first labs for these were in g/dl.

Does anyone have there labs show m spike as peak1?

Kind of confused about the result name and units of measure.

Castaway

[Multibilly]

Re: Confused by units used in lab results

by Multibilly on Sun Sep 28, 2014 7:03 pm

George,

"gm" is slang for gram, which = g. But the use of "gm" is usually avoided in official lab reports since it can be confused with other units of measure. I'm a bit surprised to see this show up on a medical lab report.

Note that a gamma globulin level is not the same as an M-Spike. They are different things.

Also, note that in my experience, M-spikes do not show up on the online lab reports since they are reported in a separate notation by the pathologist doing the SPEP. At least, that has been my experience with three different facilities so far.

You might want to compare an earlier printout of some lab results to the corresponding online data to help sort this out.

Last edited by Multibilly on Sun Sep 28, 2014 8:39 pm, edited 2 times in total.

[coachhoke]

Re: Confused by units used in lab results

by coachhoke on Sun Sep 28, 2014 7:19 pm

My m-spike is listed on my portal. It is called "Monoclonal Peak Estimation." Mine is listed
at 200 mg/dl; which is 0.2 g/dl. (1000 milligrams = 1 gram)

[Castaway]

Re: Confused by units used in lab results

by Castaway on Mon Sep 29, 2014 3:48 pm

I want to thank you for the replies. I am just looking at my Sept. labs. The first page says:

IFE Serum Path
IgA/Kappa monoclonal paraprotein
A/G Ratio 1.5 (showing it as normal under the result)
Total Protein 5.3 (showing it as low, reference is 6.4-8.3)
IgA 269 ( reference is 73-347)

This same sheet shows albumin, alpha 1&2, beta and gamma all in normal range (gm/dl). Last on this sheet, it has peak 1, 0.24 A gm/dl. The A next to 0.24 was for abnormal.

Of course, I have the usual CBC with automated differential also.

There is also a note from the lab that says SPEP/IFE, decreased albumin region. Band of protein in gamma region accounts for 0.27 g/dl of the total 0.68 g/dl of protein in the gamma region. It also goes on to say that IFE is more sensitive to identify the small M-proteins.

I have a visit scheduled with my oncologist on Thursday so I will go over these results with him.

I just started my first round of Velcade / dexamethasone last week, and this Thursday will be my fourth subcutaneous injection. I'm curious as to how the Velcade treatment is working. I just had lab work on Sunday; no results back yet.

Thank you.
Castaway