BACKGROUND: Multiple myeloma (MM) is a clonal proliferation of malignant plasma cells in the
bone marrow that produced monoclonal protein, and associated with different organ dysfunction. β2
Microglubulin is a known prognostic marker while CRP is proposed to be of equivalent significance.
OBJECTIVE: To assess the usefulness of C-reactive protein (CRP) as an alternative to β2 Microglobulin
in term of MM staging and related organ tissue injury in case of limited resources circumstances.
PATIENTS AND METHODS: A hospital based cross sectional study was conducted from the 1st of
Mar 2015 till the 1st of Jan 2016 at the hematology department in Al-Imamain Al-Kadhimain Medical
City and Baghdad Medical City. It included 25 patients who were newly diagnosed with Multiple
myeloma from both genders. CRP and β2 Microglubulin were estimated using ELISA in relation to
diseases stage and manifestation.
RESULTS: The mean age was 56.5 ± 12.6 years. Fatigue and bone pain were the predominant
presenting features. Mean CRP was 20.87 ± 11.20 μg/ml with a very significant positive correlation
with staging (r = 0.779, P = 0.0001) as well as with bone marrow (BM) Plasma Cells % (r = 0.665,
P = 0.0001) and β2 Microglubulin (r = 0.816, P = 0.0001).
CONCLUSIONS: C-reactive protein can be considered as an independent prognostic parameter to
replace β2 microglobulin in evaluating patients with MM staging and related tissue organ injury in
case of limited resources, with equivalent clinical applications.
(FULL ARTICLE LINK) Read more ...
Iraqi Journal of Hematology - Volume 6, Issue 1, January-June 2017
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