Waldenström's Macroglobulinemia

Staging is a way of describing where the cancer is located, if or where it has spread, and whether it is affecting the functions of other organs in the body. Doctors use diagnostic tests to determine the cancer's stage, so staging may not be complete until all the tests are finished. Knowing the stage helps the doctor to decide what kind of treatment is best and can help predict a patient's prognosis (chance of recovery). There are different stage descriptions for different types of cancer.

There is no standard system for staging Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia. Instead, doctors may look at several factors to determine a prognosis, such as the severity of a patient’s anemia (low level of red blood cells), the amount of IgM in the blood, and the amount of a protein in the blood called beta-2-microglobulin. People with normal hemoglobin (the protein that carries oxygen in a red blood cell) levels and low beta-2-microglobulin levels typically have a better prognosis.