Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36605304›Full record

ArticleEJIFCC2022

A Case of Clinical Confusion Due to Erroneous M-protein Quantifications: To Splice or Skim?

Pak Cheung Chan, Amir Karin, Signy Chow

Open access · greenAbstract readCase Reports
In one paragraph

Article in EJIFCC, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact, top 67% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 0 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Pak Cheung ChanDivision of Clinical Biochemistry, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Molecular Diagnostics, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Canada.
Amir KarinDivision of Clinical Chemistry, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Vancouver Coastal Health, Vancouver, Canada.
Signy ChowDivision of Hematology, Department of Medicine, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Canada.
Health Sciences Centre · CAUniversity of British Columbia · CAUniversity of Toronto · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

An M-protein identified on electrophoresis is conventionally quantified by integrating the M-spike from baseline (PD), invariably including some irrelevant/background proteins. The use of an alternative approach that skims the M-spike tangentially thereby excluding the background proteins (TS), however, has been scanty. We report herein a case in which PD overestimated the M-proteins inconsistently, leading to confusion over relapse in a multiple myeloma patient. At diagnosis, a 65-year old male had an IgG kappa M-spike of 44 g/L which decreased to 6 g/L (PD) following chemotherapy. Six weeks after autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT), two M-spikes measuring respectively 10 and 5 g/L emerged. Together with decreases in hemoglobin and blood cell counts, a relapse was suspected. Bone marrow examinations, however, did not reveal any significant plasmacytosis or clonal restriction. Re-analyses by TS reduced the original M-protein estimations by 12% and 88% pre- and post-ASCT respectively, and corroborated the disease activity/status consistently.

Indexed as

monoclonal gammopathyM-protein quantificationperpendicular dropserum protein electrophoresistangential skim

Identifiers

PMID36605304
PMCPMC9768617
OpenAlexW4313655537

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.