Serum protein zone electrophoresis--an outmoded test?

The predictive value of plasma protein changes in disease is very largely unknown, as relevant clinical and laboratory studies are lacking. The usefulness of zone electrophoresis as a method of detecting a constellation of plasma protein changes is even less clear. With the advent of precise automated techniques for specific plasma protein measurement, zone electrophoresis has little to offer except in the identification and quantitation of paraproteins, where it is essential.