Laboratory investigation of monoclonal gammopathy during 10 years of screening in a general hospital.

Protein electrophoresis was carried out on 102,000 samples from the patients of a district general hospital over 10 years, and a monoclonal protein was detected in 730 cases; of these, 114 could be classified as B cell malignancies and 261 as monoclonal gammopathy of undefined significance (MGUS). The various clinical and laboratory features of monoclonal gammopathy were examined with respect to distinguishing the malignant conditions from MGUS at first presentation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]