Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia

Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia is a cancer affecting two types of white blood cells, lymphoplasmacytoid cells and plasma cells, characterized by high levels of a circulating antibody, immunoglobulin M, produced and secreted by the cells involved. It is considered an indolent lymphoma and a type of lymphoproliferative disease that shares clinical features with the indolent non-Hodgkin lymphomas, and it is commonly classified as a form of plasma cell dyscrasia, similar to other plasma cell dyscrasias such as those that lead to multiple myeloma. It is commonly preceded by two clinically symptom free but progressively more premalignant phases, IgM monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance and smoldering Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia.