[Alpha heavy chain disease]

Abstract

Alpha chain disease is a fairly rare disease (less than 80 cases have been diagnosed to date) the diagnosis of which should be considered as a routine in France when a young arab or oriental jew presents with digestive symptoms such as chronic diarrhoea, abdominal pain of abdominal tumour. The diagnosis of the disease requires two examinations 1) serum immunoelectrophoresis with monospecific anti-IgA antiserum, which alone isolates in 100% of cases the paraprotein. 2) Exploratory laparatomy seems advisable in all cases, for it alone permits multiple lymph node and intestinal biopsies whict are necessary to determine the stage of the disease, the prognosis and treatment. 3) Generally speaking, heavy chain disease seems to represent like Burkitt's lymphoma, a model for experimental carcinoma.