Home > Encyclopedia of Medicine > WaldenströM's Macroglobulinemia

Definition

Waldenström's macroglobulinemia is a rare, chronic cancer of the immune system that is characterized by hyperviscosity, or thickening, of the blood.

Description

Waldenström's (Waldenstrom, Waldenstroem's) macroglobulinemia (WM) is a lymphoma, or cancer of the lymphatic system. It was first identified in 1944, by the Swedish physician Jan Gosta Waldenström, in patients who had a thickening of the serum, or liquid part, of the blood. Their blood serum contained a great deal of a very large molecule called a globulin. Thus, the disorder is called macroglobulinemia.

Lymphomas are cancers that originate in tissues of the lymphatic system. All lymphomas other than Hodgkin's disease, including WM, are known collectively as non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. There are 13...