Serum protein electrophoresis: Italian survey 1986

In 1986 the Protein Commission of the Italian Society of Clinical Biochemistry (SIBIOC) carried out its second survey on the use of serum protein electrophoresis in Italian laboratories. Three serum samples plus a questionnaire were sent to the 253 laboratories which agreed to take part. The three samples had the following characteristics: Serum 1: a 60 g/L IgM-lambda monoclonal component (MC); Serum 2: an artificially split alpha-2 zone; Serum 3: a very faint lambda chain MC. These features were chosen to assess (a) the type of report; (b) the resolution quality of the electrophoretic technique; and (c) the laboratory capacity to detect a small MC. The most significant features revealed by the survey were: (a) the poor capacity of assessment of the small MC in Serum 3 (only detected by 23.1% of laboratories); (b) the discouraging tendency to delegate electrophoretic diagnostic interpretation to ward physicians (44.4% of participating laboratories provided only densitometric values and graphs).