Plasma cells in bone marrow - an artifactual change mimicking metastasis.

Abstract

Plasma cells are known to have a varied morphology espe-cially in plasma cell tumors [1]. They may be fl ame cells with deep magenta to pink cytoplasm at the periphery, or Mott cells with multiple small globular cytoplasmic inclu-sions or thesaurocytes which have reticulated cytoplasm [2, 3]. We present a case in which plasma cells showed a unusu-al morphology in trephine bone biopsy. A 40-year-old male presented with bony pain for two months, reduced appetite with fever of and on for a month. He had taken treatment for pulmonary tuberculosis one year back. On examination, he had pallor and a subcutaneous swelling on the anterior chest wall. There was no lymphadenopathy or hepato-splenomegaly. FNAC of the subcutaneous nodule revealed numerous plasma cells, suggestive of a plasmacytoma. Fur-ther investigations were done to rule out multiple myeloma. Hemogram revealed: hemoglobin – 10.3 g/dl, red blood cell count – 2.73 × 10