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Published on: April 15, 2022
Monoclonal gammopathy in a tertiary referral hospital
Waleed Tamimi1, Ahmad Alaskar, Mohammed Alassiri
1Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. tamimiw@ngha.med.sa
Objective:
Monoclonal gammopathies reflect conditions of plasma B-cell disorders. Our objective was to identify the prevalence and types of these gammopathies in our population.
Methods:
A 10year retrospective study was conducted. Serum and/or urine protein electrophoresis were performed on 6624 samples. Positive bands were further tested by immunofixation (IFE).
Results:
Homogenous bands were detected in 7% of the patients. IFE method confirmed 6.3% in which 59% were males and 41% were females. The mean age was 64.7 for females and 66.5 for males. The sensitivity and specificity were 91% and 99% respectively. The most common protein was IgG kappa 41%, followed by IgG lambda 19%. Sixty-eight percent of these patients had monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance and 14.6% had multiple myeloma.
Conclusion:
The majority of the studied population had MGUS. This observation is in concord with other western populations. The sensitivity and specificity of protein electrophoresis is diagnostically and reasonably acceptable.