Hypocryoglobulins: a method to increase cryoprecipitation.
We used both the conventional test and a modified assay, the hypocryoglobulin test, to detect cryoprecipitates in 90 patients; 79 of them had different diseases in which cryoglobulins are frequently seen. For 11, type II essential mixed cryoglobulinemia had previously been diagnosed. It is still uncertain whether dilution of serum is a real help for detection of cryoglobulins. In the group of 79 patients, we found enhancement of cryoprecipitation in hypotonic sera in 33% of the cases, all with low cryocrit levels (less than 2%). In all but one of the patients with type II cryoglobulins, the hypocryocrit was equal to or lower than the cryocrit. The hypocryoglobulin test can detect a cryoprecipitate in patients with conventional cryocrits near the limits of visibility. In a few cases of cryoglobulinemic vasculitis, dilution of the serum can disclose a cryoprecipitate otherwise not visible.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D011232:Chemical Precipitation; D003080:Cold Temperature; D003240:Connective Tissue Diseases / Q000097:blood; D003449:Cryoglobulinemia / Q000097:blood* / Q000145:classification; D003450:Cryoglobulins / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005260:Female; D006505:Hepatitis / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D007038:Hypotonic Solutions; D008297:Male; D008722:Methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D014657:Vasculitis / Q000097:blood
D003450:Cryoglobulins; D007038:Hypotonic Solutions