Inability to Measure M-Protein With Capillary Zone Electrophoresis (CAPPILLARYS 2) in Tracings With NonDiscernable Peaks.
BACKGROUND
We performed a retrospective study to illustrate the challenges with quantifying monoclonal (M)-protein in the cases of serum protein capillary zone electrophoresis (SPCZE) where no discernable peak is apparent.


MATERIALS AND METHODS
We retrospectively reviewed 160 serum immunofixation electrophoresis (SIFE) that were performed at Memorial Hermann Hospital-Texas Medical Center between October 2013 and November 2013 and we identified the positive SIFE results. The corresponding SPCZE of the positive SIFE were retrieved and evaluated for the ability to quantify M-proteins in them. We define the ability to quantify M-protein as the ability for the operator of the SPCZE to identify a discernable peak and to be able to manually gate the area under the peak.


RESULTS
Twenty-two cases of SIFE detected a monoclonal immunoglobulin. Of the corresponding 22 SPCZE, we could not quantify the M-protein in 6 (27.3%) of the cases.


CONCLUSION
We have shown several cases where we were not able to quantify the M-protein with SPCZE. This poses a challenge in the diagnosis and management of these patients.
['Huang|Richard S P|RS|', 'Dasgupta|Amitava|A|', 'Nguyen|Andy N D|AN|', 'Wahed|Amer|A|']
D000368:Aged D000369:Aged, 80 and over D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal D004587:Electrophoresis, Agar Gel D019075:Electrophoresis, Capillary D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D009194:Myeloma Proteins D010265:Paraproteinemias D012189:Retrospective Studies
capillary zone electrophoresis immunofixation electrophoresis agarose gel electrophoresis monoclonal gammopathy monoclonal protein