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Updated: Aug 15, 2025
Measuring Deformability and Red Cell Heterogeneity in Blood by Ektacytometry
Published on: January 12, 2018
Erythrocyte deformability profile evaluated by laser diffractometry in patients with multiple myeloma: Re-examination
Gregorio Caimi1, Rosalia Lo Presti2, Salvatrice Mancuso1
1Department of Health Promotion and Child Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
Background:
Multiple myeloma is a complex pathology which represents about 10 % of all hematological neoplasms. It can often present changes in the hemorheological profile and, in relation to this last topic, our aim is to evaluate the hemorheological profile in a group of multiple myeloma patients, with reference to erythrocyte deformability.
Methods:
We have examined the profile of the erythrocyte deformability in multiple myeloma enrolling 29 patients; this profile, expressed as elongation index at several shear stress, has been obtained using the diffractometric method.
Results:
By comparing normal controls and MM patients, a significant decrease in erythrocyte deformability, especially at low shear stresses, but we did not observe any significant differences about this profile subdividing the whole group of MM patients according to the degree of bone marrow plasma cell infiltration, to the red blood cell distribution width and to the serum values of LDH.
Conclusions:
In this paper we have taken in consideration all the hypothesis for a possible explanation of the behaviour of this a reduced erythrocyte deformability in multiple myeloma. Erythrocyte deformability interferes with the physiological release of oxygen to tissues, with several clinical implications.
