Waldenström's Macroglobulinemia

Abstract

IN 1944 Waldenström1 described a clinical syndrome characterized by a hemorrhagic diathesis, leukopenia and the presence of an abnormal protein of large molecular weight. He entitled the syndrome "incipient myelomatosis." Since his original description many studies have been concerned with the presence, chemical characteristics and implications of abnormal serum proteins in a variety of disorders. Particular interest has been attracted to the abnormal proteins observed during the course of multiple myeloma,2 leukemia, lymphomas and liver diseases. In the American literature, however, only a few cases have been reported that fit the syndrome now known as macroglobulinemia of Waldenström. The problem . . .