Mixed Results

Pomalyst Study Cycle 69 Thursday, June 27, 2013: M-Spike and IgG: IgG went up 21% in the last 28 days, from 1070 mg/dL last month to 1300 this month. M-spike comes in later but usually follows IgG closely, so I left Mayo for home assuming that the cancer markers, with an up-and-down history, were going up again. After the 90-minute drive home, though, I checked into Mayo Clinic on line and M-spike had a value of 1.0 g/dL (1000 mg/dL), unchanged from the previous cycle. How could that be? IgG is the sum of the "bad" IgG, the useless monoclonal proteins produced by the myeloma cells and measured by the M-spike, and the "good" IgG, which is an essential part of the immune system. Assuming that error in the the tests themselves could not be large enough to produce this discrepancy between IgG and M-spike, one explanation is that the "good" IgG is up this time, possibly because of a recent sinus infection. I'll go with that for today, and we'll see what happens next month. All organic Light Chains: In recent months both the Lambda and the Kappa light chains have been creeping upward. Last month both were above their reference ranges, for the first time ever. Today, though, both are down a little, each almost exactly at the top of its reference range. I guess I like that better. The Kappa/Lambda ratio is smack in the middle of its reference range, which is a good thing. Whatever - I don't know what to think about the creeping light chains. Heart: Mayo performed...
Source: Myeloma Hope - Category: Cancer Source Type: blogs