Hi. Multiple myeloma is a malignancy involving plasma cells and B lymphocytes. These are a type of white blood cell which produces immunoglobulins or antibodies. Since the malignant plasma cells are clones of a single abnormal lymphocyte, they all produce the same kind of immunoglobulin in large quantities. This over-produced immunoglobulin is what is called paraprotein or M-protein ("M" stands for monoclonal or myeloma).
One of my cats that had the bone marrow biopsy had bad kidneys and high calcium levels and did NOT have multiple myeloma. He had a screwed up WBC from a thyroid med he was on. My other cat that had the biopsy had to get his RBCs checked because he was anemic.
I am very sorry that the phone consult didn't ease your mind. But, the vets can't say that it is definitely multiple myeloma w/ out the biopsy. My cat had the elevated calcium and it was NOT cancer.
I am almost 5 years out from my diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma. Have been in a watchful waiting stage for 6 months as my m-protein (cancer marker) has showed up and continues to slowly rise. I'm now in clear relapse pattern. Treatment will likely be induction chemo with multiple drugs, then a second stem cell transplant but we hope to delay starting treatment as long as possible since for the most part I feel fine, no myeloma issues.
I have a 15 year old male cat that was diagnosed at the end of July last year with mulitple myeloma. He had no outward symptoms but over the previous 6 months had lost much of his muscle tone which is what led me to take him to the vet. His globulin level was 8.0 and total protien was at 10.9.
X-rays showed that he had punctate lesions in one front leg. I took him to several vets to try to get advice on treatment.
Hi, I don't know the answer -- but since both CML and Gleevec toxicity produce anemia because of marrow suppression, maybe it's not possible to tell the difference. E.g., both would show a low reticulocyte count.
This full text paper on anemia from Gleevec https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ajh.23879 shows that other signs such as red blood cell size can vary, so that doesn't seem to help. Sorry.
I started out with smoldering Myeloma. I did lots of research and found Huntsman Cancer Institute, Salt Lake City, UT has a Myloma Clinic. Dr. Tricot (tree-co) is from Belgum and is wonderful. He specializes in Myeloma. He started me on Pamidronate infusions to prevent bone loss. My IgG is in the 3300 mg range and the bone marrow was at 13% Myeloma cells and the Kappa/Lambda freelight chains were high (can't remember at this time how high). The total proteins were at 9.
Hi, unfortunately with smudge cells and your other signs, the first thing to look into is CLL and other B-cell blood cancers. The high calcium suggests Multiple Myeloma, but then CLL can also cause high calcium.
It's important to remember that CLL usually has a very good survival rate.
You don't mention easy bruising, so maybe the marrow is still okay.
If your WBC and your number of smudge cells hasn't been rising, that should probably be a good sign.
Good luck to you.
I will advise you to get your serum calcium levels done and also other related tests to rule out multiple myeloma. High ESR could be due to any chronic illness/infection .Low serum ferritin could be possibly due to liver disease in your case. Consult your doctor for thorough evaluation. Hope it helps. Do write to us again.
The condition seems to be rare and sometimes caused by multiple myeloma or kidney disease. However. a bone marrow biospy, MRI and many other blood tests have shown no signs of cancer or kidney disease. What, if anything, can anyone tell me what the next step should be to determine the cause of this condition?
I was diagnosed with CML and given Gleevec 400 ml. After taking gleevec for 2 weeks doctor took additional blood test. My WBC dropped from 36.5 to 7.1 and all other blood counts came down to normal range. I'm wondering if gleevec could give such fast hematological response or I was possibly misdiagnosed originally. I don't and didn't have any symptoms, my spleen and liver weren't enlarged, no enlarged lymph. Should I get second opinion asap? Please, help me.
s really reassuring to hear that someone with Multiple Myeloma has survived for 10 years. My dad has MM going on 4 years now and they told him his max life span with this cancer would b 5 years max but he responding well with his treatment they give him a bone strengthener/chemo called Zomeda (probably not spelled correctly) and the cancer cells are low to where he is close to remission. He was in remission for not even a year when the cancer came back and now he is doing okay with the cancer.
Correspondingly, an increase in the number of cations, either organic (eg, paraproteins as in multiple myeloma) or inorganic (bromide, lithium, Iodine or polymyxin B) can lead to low anion gap values. A decreased anion gap is also seen in multiple myeloma where the increased negatively-charged immunoglobulins interact with and bind cations in the blood.”
Refer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anion_gap
Hope this helps. Please let me know if there is any thing else and do keep me posted. Take care!
I had a heart attack in 93 which was in the widowmaker and I lost 20% of the back part of my heart, no procedures was done at that time,,The blood clot is inside the heart lodged on the widow maker where scar tissue formed after the attack, what caused them to go in this time was angina and shortness of breath, they done a cath and couldnt repair it at that time, all I know is it was explained as the branch where the left descending and the right descending arterys branch out, he couldnt get any
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