Comparison between immunofixation and electrophoresis for the early detection of relapsed multiple myeloma

Marta Helena C Aita,José Edson P Silva,Bruno C Aita,Luiz Claudio Arantes

doi:10.5935/1676-2444.20150057

Marta Helena C Aita, José Edson P Silva + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5935/1676-2444.20150057

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Abstract

Introduction: Multiple myeloma (MM) is an incurable progressive hematological neoplasia characterized by heterogeneous evolution and by relapses after therapy. Objective: Compare the effectiveness of serum immunofixation (SIF) and electrophoresis (SPE) techniques in the detection of relapses in MM patients undergoing treatment at the University Hospital of Santa Maria (HUSM). Material and methods: The study was conducted from January 2012 to July 2014 and included 52 patients from HUSM with confirmed diagnosis of MM. The retrospective monitoring based on laboratory analyses indicated that nine of these patients relapsed, in whom it was possible to compare the effectiveness of SIF and SPE techniques for detecting relapses. Results: For the nine patients, SIF always detected MM relapses earlier than SPE, with a precocity ranging from 2.0 to 18.8 months, for an average of 6.6 months. Discussion and conclusion: The results indicated that SIF was more effective than SPE for the early detection of relapses, regardless of the class and type of M component (mono/biclonal). Therefore, the use of SIF allows for better monitoring of MM patients, especially for the detection of relapses, thereby helping in choosing the most appropriate therapy and resulting in increased duration of survival period free of disease.

Highlights

Multiple myeloma (MM) is an incurable progressive hematological neoplasia characterized by heterogeneous evolution and by relapses after therapy
The multiple myeloma (MM) is a progressive B-cell hematological malignancy, characterized by the unregulated and clonal proliferation of plasma cells of the bone marrow (BM), which produce and secrete anomalous monoclonal immunoglobulin or fragments of these, called M-protein, myeloma protein or paraprotein, which are secreted into the blood and/or urine[1,2,3,4]
The diagnosis of MM depends on identification of monoclonal plasmocytes in the BM, M-protein in the serum or urine and evidence of bone lesions[12]

Summary

Introduction

Multiple myeloma (MM) is an incurable progressive hematological neoplasia characterized by heterogeneous evolution and by relapses after therapy. Objective: Compare the effectiveness of serum immunofixation (SIF) and electrophoresis (SPE) techniques in the detection of relapses in MM patients undergoing treatment at the University Hospital of Santa Maria (HUSM). The retrospective monitoring based on laboratory analyses indicated that nine of these patients relapsed, in whom it was possible to compare the effectiveness of SIF and SPE techniques for detecting relapses. Discussion and conclusion: The results indicated that SIF was more effective than SPE for the early detection of relapses, regardless of the class and type of M component (mono/ biclonal). The use of SIF allows for better monitoring of MM patients, especially for the detection of relapses, thereby helping in choosing the most appropriate therapy and resulting in increased duration of survival period free of disease.

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Conclusion