Can Simple Blood Tests Diagnose Early Multiple Myeloma?
Posted: Thursday, October 11, 2018
A new study, published in the British Journal of General Practice, reported that a simple blood test, combining plasma viscosity and erythrocyte sedimentation rate, performed better than C-reactive protein in the early diagnosis of multiple myeloma. Routinely performed by general practitioners, these blood tests may help improve early diagnoses and prevent patients from requiring a specialist referral, according to the investigators.
“We report a simple way a [general practitioner] can check patients presenting symptoms such as back, rib, and chest pain, or recurrent chest infections, and determine whether they have myeloma or not,” the principal study investigator, William Hamilton, MD, FRCP, FRCGP, of the University of Exeter, United Kingdom, commented in an institutional press release.
The authors used routinely collected data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink in a matched case-control study set to analyze symptom prevalence and blood tests up to 5 years prior to diagnosis. A total of 2,703 cases with disease and 12,157 without were evaluated. Likelihood ratios were used to determine which tests and combinations were useful for diagnosis.
The results demonstrated that patients with myeloma had reduced hemoglobin levels nearly 3 years prior to diagnosis. In these patients, plasma viscosity and erythrocyte sedimentation rate increase as well as symptoms such as pain, chest infections, and nosebleeds became more frequent about 2 years before diagnosis. The study authors observed no difference in C-reactive protein between patients and controls.
“Ordinarily, a [general practitioner] will see a patient with myeloma every 5 years—and early diagnosis matters. More timely treatment could significantly improve survival rates for this disease,” Dr. Hamilton stated.
