RENAL INSUFFICIENCY ASSOCIATED WITH BENCE-JONES PROTEINURIA

Abstract

The frequency of the occurrence of renal insufficiency in the presence of Bence-Jones proteinuria deserves further emphasis. Geschickter and Copeland¹recently called attention to the close association of multiple myeloma, Bence-Jones proteinuria and renal disease, stating that the changes in the kidney in cases of multiple myeloma are as varied and diverse as the pulmonary changes, and that they are present in a larger proportion of the cases, about 70 per cent. If this statement is accepted, it must be remembered that these statistics regarding the presence of renal changes are based primarily on postmortem data. Most of the cases of multiple myeloma, approximately 80 per cent, occur in patients between the ages of 40 and 70 years, with the peak of incidence at 55 years. Therefore, some of the abnormalities found in the kidney, post mortem, may be entirely incidental and not the direct result of either the multiple