[Chronic urticarial lesions and macroglobulinemia. Apropos of 5 cases]

The authors report 5 cases whose main characteristics appeared very similar. Constantly, they found the same skin signs, urticaria without pruritus, recurring over a long period. The latter was accompanied by a very high E.S.R. and immuno-electrophoresis showed, in all cases, an increase in monoclonal IgB, permitting one to make the diagnosis of macroglobulinemia. In four cases out of five, this clinical picture was accompanied by bony pain associated with radiological signs of condensation. The symptoms were accompanied by prolonged fever and lymphadenopathy. After being well tolerated for a long period, the disease may become worse and lead to death. Thus this seems to be a true disease entity?