[Serum beta 2-microglobulin in multiple myeloma. I. Relation to selected indicators, clinical stage and disease prognosis].

The authors evaluated in a group of 89 patients with monoclonal gammapathy (18 patients with monoclonal gammapathy of undermined significance, 34 patients examined at the time of diagnosis of multiple myeloma (MM) and in a group of 71 patients with MM examined in different stages of the disease) the serum beta 2-microglobulin. It was revealed that the mentioned indicator is of no differential diagnostic value, it is not related to sex nor to the immunochemical type of monoclonal immunoglobulin. A relationship of serum beta 2-microglobulin to age, serum urea and serum creatinine, to the severity of anaemia, serum albumin, sedimentation rate of red cells, degree of infiltration of bone marrow by myeloma plasmocytes and the stage of the disease, evaluated by the systems of Durie-Salmon and Medical Research Council, was found. The authors tested the importance of serum levels of this indicator for the prognosis of the disease.