Pseudohyperphosphatemia in a patient with multiple myeloma

Abstract

Hyperphosphatemia is an unusual manifestation in patients with multiple myeloma without a significantly reduced glomerular filtration rate. Serum phosphate may be falsely elevated when a large amount of paraproteins is present in the serum, because ultraviolet light absorbance is elevated with the phosphomolybdate ultraviolet assay, which is most commonly used for serum phosphate measurement. This pseudohyperphosphatemia can be confirmed by deproteinization of the serum of patients. We report a case of multiple myeloma presenting with spurious hyperphosphatemia revealing pseudohyperphosphatemia by deproteinization of serum using sulfosalicylic acid.