Clinical profile of Saudi patients with multiple myeloma

Abstract

Background: Multiple myeloma (MM) is a neoplasm of plasma cells. Ethnic variations among the clinical features of MM have been reported. Objectives: This study was performed to assess the clinical features of Saudi MM patients. Patients and Methods: Data were collected retrospectively from the medical records of patients between November 2014 and September 2017 at King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. During the study period, MM was diagnosed among 36 patients (mean age: 65.2 ± 11.2 years) comprising of 19 females and 17 males of Saudi nationality. Results: Out of the 19 female patients, 15 (78.9%) had κ chain restriction, whereas among the 17 male MM patients, 14 (82.3%) had λ light-chain restricted disease. All the patients (100%) had anemia (median 93 g/L; interquartile range [IQR] 22.5), 35/36 (97.2%) patients had increased red cell distribution width (RDW) (median 18.3%; IQR 4.5), 34/36 (94.4%) patients had increased monocyte percentage (median 13.7%; IQR 3.4), and 34/36 (94.4%) patients had diabetes mellitus. Conclusion: Gender preferences for κ and λ light chain among MM patients and the association of increased RDW with MM require validation in large-scale studies.

Keywords

• kappa
• lambda
• light chains
• multiple myeloma