What are 7 renal complications of multiple myeloma?
Renal complications in multiple myeloma include:
- Light chain or cast nephropathy
- Amyloidosis
- Light chain deposition disease
- Fanconi’s syndrome (proximal tubular dysfunction)
- Hypercalcemia with acute renal failure
Less commonly, one might see:
- Heavy chain deposition disease
- Cryoglobulinemia
- Uric acid nephropathy renal plasma cell invasion
Why might a urine dipstick not be positive for protein even if a patient has large amounts of light chains in their urine?
Urine dipsticks only detect albumin and not all proteins, including light chains. Therefore, a patient with multiple myeloma who has a large amount of light chains in the urine will not have a dipstick positive for albumin.
