Treatment of Waldenström's Macroglobulinemia by Plasmapheresis

Abstract

MACROGLOBULINEMIA of Waldenström is a disease of the reticuloendothelial system characterized by a marked increase in the serum gamma macroglobulin concentration. It occurs most frequently in elderly men, whose principal complaints are usually weakness, dyspnea, weight loss, bleeding tendency and, less commonly, decreased visual acuity. Increased distention and tortuosity of the retinal veins and multiple retinal hemorrhages, as well as lymphadenopathy and hepatosplenomegaly, are typically present. Pertinent laboratory findings include a normochromic normocytic anemia, often an absolute lymphocytosis, an elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate and increased numbers of small lymphocytes and lymphoid plasma cells in the bone marrow. The euglobulin (Sia) . . .