Objective To study the
disease spectrum,clinical and lab characteristic of cryoglobulinaemia.
Methods The clinical and
laboratory data of 58
patients with positive
cryoglobulin admitted in
Peking University People's
Hospital from April 2010 to May 2014 were retrospectively analyzed.Results Among 58
patients,34 were diagnosed as
autoimmune disease,8 as
infectious disease,4 as
hematological disease and 12 as primary
cryoglobulinemia.Renal involvement was the most frequent clinical presentation among all
cryoglobulin positive
patients.
Patients with
autoimmune disease presented all clinical manifestations related to cryoglobulinaemia.Renal involvement (7/8) was prominent in
patients with HBV/HCV
infection,while other clinical presentations were rare.Among 4
patients with
hematological disease,
purpura was presented in 3 cases,renal involvement in 2,
arthralgia in 2,
fatigue,
thrombosis or hyperviscosity was presented in 1 case,respectively;however,none of these
patients had elevated
rheumatoid factor (RF) level.Renal lesions were the most common reason for
patients with primary cryoglobulinaemia to consult doctors,and 5 of them had positive
antinuclear antibodies (ANA).Conclusions There is a broad spectrum of
disease in cryoglobulinaemia.Multi-system involvement was most common in
patients with
autoimmune disease.For
patients with HBV/HCV
infection,extra-hepatic presentations were rare except renal involvement.Hyperviscosity
syndrome tended to occur in
patients with
hematological disease.Since
patients with primary cryoglobulinaemia had a relatively high rate of positive
antinuclear antibodies,we should keep vigilance at the occurrence of
autoimmune disease.