RELATIVE PLASMA VISCOSITY: A SIMPLE TEST FOR THE BED SIDE DIAGNOSIS OF MULTIPLE MYELOMA

S. Sarhan, Falih

	RELATIVE PLASMA VISCOSITY: A SIMPLE TEST FOR THE BED SIDE DIAGNOSIS OF MULTIPLE MYELOMA
IRAQI JOURNAL OF MEDICAL SCIENCES
Article 1, Volume 5, Issue 1, 2007, Pages 40-43
Author
Falih S. Sarhan
Abstract
Background: The measurement of plasma viscosity (PV) has long been recognized to be important for the diagnosis of paraproteinemia and it is widely used recently for the assessment of peripheral vascular disorders, diabetes mellitus and malignant diseases. The WHO recommended method for measuring PV is the electronic Harkness viscometer, but it is expensive and not widely available. Objective: A simplified, cheaper and accurate technique using the red cell pipette is worth trying as a rapid bedside test. Methods: The relative plasma viscosity (RPV) was measured in 30 patients with multiple myeloma and 150 healthy adults. The method applied was that of Wright and Jenkins in which a comparison of the vertical flow of plasma to distilled water using the red cell pipette is used to measure the relative viscosity of plasma. The erythrocyte sedimentation rate for both the patients and control was performed for comparison. Results: The mean RPV in multiple myeloma patients was highly raised compared to normal and that increment is highly significant statistically (p<0.001). These results are considered highly supportive of the diagnosis of myeloma. In the other hand, although the results of ESR were statistically significant, it cannot be differentiated from those due to other disorders. Conclusion: The measurement of RPV has proved to be simple and reliable and may be used at the bed side to detect the activity and to assess the diagnosis of multiple myeloma. Key words: Plasma viscosity, multiple myeloma.
Keywords
Plasma viscosity; multiple myeloma

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