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 Printable version |
An atypical electrophoretic profile |
Hématologie. Volume 12, Number 6, 424-8, Novembre-Décembre 2006, Revue
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 Résumé
Article gratuit
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Author(s) : Cécile Alanio-Bréchot, Delphine Girard-Lamoulère, Karim Abbed, Yassine Taoufik, Martine Raphaël, Caroline Besson |
Summary : Protein electrophoresis is essential for detection of a monoclonal immunoglobulin. Our case highlights hemolysis as a potentially frequent source of confusion because it may lead to an aberrant peak on protein electrophoresis. Observation. A 80-years-old man was addressed to our institution to undergo explorations for a monoclonal IgM kappa at 56 g/L. Complementary exams led to diagnosis of Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia. However, surprising differences were observed between results from protein electrophoresis, which found two different peaks respectively in beta and in gamma globulin area, and those from immunofixation, which confirmed isolated monoclonal IgM at 54 g/L. Discussion. Differences observed in our case are due to hemolysis’ interference on electrophoresis migration profile. Indeed, hemoglobin released from lyzis red blood cells can induce, according to its level, two sorts of abnormality on protein electrophoresis: a weakly increase of alpha-2-globulin region and/or a new peak migrating in the beta globulin region. This interference is often ignored, whereas it is probably frequent, and can lead to false diagnosis, or to sometimes useless complementary exams. |
Keywords : electrophoresis, immunoglobulin, Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia, hemolysis |
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