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1 Laboratory Service and
2
Medical Service, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 800 Zorn Ave., Louisville, KY 40206.
3 Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and
4
Division of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292.
aAddress correspondence to this author at: Laboratory Service, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 800 Zorn Ave., Louisville, KY 40206. E-mail levinson@louisville.edu.
| The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below. |
| Introduction |
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An 83-year-old man entered the Veteran Administration Hospital from a nursing home with a complaint of failure to urinate. The patient was being followed for myelodysplastic syndrome. The patient was admitted to the hospital on the basis of dysuria and a low hemoglobin (reference intervals in parentheses) of 53 g/L (135180 g/L). The white blood cell count was 8.1 x 109/L (510 x 109/L), with 61% monocytes. Pertinent blood chemistry results on admission were as follows: urea nitrogen, 0.9 g/L (0.070.22 g/L); creatinine, 0.06 g/L (0.0060.014 g/L); potassium, 3.4 mmol/L (3.55.3 mmol/L); calcium, 0.076 g/L (0.0920.107 g/L); total protein, 76 g/L (6282 g/L); albumin, 24 g/L (3550 g/L); IgG, 30 g/L (7.216.8 g/L); IgA, 2.6 g/L (0.693.8 g/L); IgM, 0.62 g/L (0.632.7 g/L); and
/
ratio, 0.49 (1.22.6). A monoclonal protein had not been detected previously, but results of the serum protein electrophoresis and immunonephelometric analysis performed on admission indicated a monoclonal IgG-
concentration of
30 g/L. This profile is most consistent with myeloma. Bone marrow aspirates showed 3040% monocytes/myeloblasts and 510% plasma cells. Radiologic examination, including bone radiography and computerized tomography, showed no bone lesions. Urine chemistry
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