ABSTRACT
Waldenström’s macroglobulinaemia (WM) is a low-grade lymphoproliferative disorder that produces monoclonal immunoglobulin M (IgM). In 1944, Jan Waldenström reported two patients with oronasal bleeding, severe anaemia, lymphadenopathy, hypofibrinogenaemia, elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and the presence of large amounts of a high-molecular-weight gammaglobulin in the serum.1 Examination of bone marrow aspirates of these patients revealed proliferation of cells with lymphocyte and plasma cell characteristics. Subsequently, the serum globulin was identified as an immunoglobulin, and was designated IgM.
