SCIEPublish

Therapeutic Plasma Exchange Rapidly Restores Red Blood Cell Deformability in Waldenström Macroglobulinemia

lssue 1, Volume 1
Download PDF
Cite This Article
Contents

Case Report Open Access

Therapeutic Plasma Exchange Rapidly Restores Red Blood Cell Deformability in Waldenström Macroglobulinemia

Naijia Liu 1,2 Shanye Yin 2,3,* Wenjun Deng 4,*

Author Information
Other Information
1
Department of Pathology, Montefiore Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10467, USA
2
Department of Pathology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461, USA
3
Einstein Pathology Single-Cell & Bioinformatics Laboratory, Bronx, NY 10461, USA
4
Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 03 February 2026 Revised: 10 March 2026 Accepted: 20 March 2026 Published: 07 April 2026

Creative Commons

© 2026 The authors. This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Views:84
Downloads:44
iMed 2026, 1(1), 10003; DOI: 10.70322/iMed.2026.10003
ABSTRACT: Waldenström macroglobulinemia (WM) is a lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma characterized by monoclonal immunoglobulin M (IgM) overproduction, leading to hyperviscosity syndrome and microvascular complications. While increased plasma viscosity is a well-recognized feature of WM, the impact of extreme IgM elevation on intrinsic red blood cell (RBC) mechanical properties remain incompletely characterized. Here, we report a case of WM with markedly elevated IgM associated with profound impairment of RBC deformability. Therapeutic plasma exchange rapidly reduced serum IgM levels, accompanied by parallel and sustained improvement in RBC deformability. Given the importance of RBC deformability in microvascular blood flow, these findings highlight a reversible, IgM-mediated alteration in RBC mechanics and provide novel insights into microcirculatory dysfunction in WM.
Keywords: Waldenström macroglobulinemia; Hyperviscosity syndrome; Therapeutic plasma exchange; Red blood cell deformability
TOP