Case reports   

International Angiology 2010 December;29(6):560-4

Copyright © 2010 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Cryoglobulinemia manifested by gangraene of almost all fingers and toes

Vacula I. ¹, Ambrózy E. ¹, Makovník M. ¹, Stvrtina S. ², Babál P. ², Stvrtinová V. ¹ ✉

¹ 2nd Department of Internal Medicine, Comenius University Hospital, Bratislava, Slovakia; ² Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia

Cryoglobulinemia is a rather rare condition accompanying quite a broad spectrum of different states and diseases. Mixed or polyclonal cryoglobulins can be seen in patients with autoimmune disorders, chronic infections and lymphoproliferative disorders. Monoclonal cryoglobulins are often revealed in patients with multiple myeloma or Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia. Cryoglobulinemia is in most cases asymptomatic. Cryoglobulinemic vasculitis is an immune complex-mediated systemic disorder involving mostly small, but sometimes also larger vessels. In this report, we describe a case of a patient presented with gangrene of almost all fingers and toes, who was finally diagnosed and treated as cryoglobulinemic vasculitis due to multiple myeloma.