Solitary Bone Plasmacytoma

Abstract

Can Respir J Vol 20 No 1 January/February 2013 Plasma cell dyscrasias are a group of entities characterized by the neoplastic proliferation of a single clone of plasma cells, typically producing a monoclonal immunoglobulin. Fewer than 5% of patients with a plasma cell dyscrasia present with a single bone (solitary bone plasmacytoma [SBP]) or extramedullary lesion due to malignant plasma cell infiltrate without apparent evidence of systemic myeloma. Most often presenting as a painful lesion (but also asymptomatically), as in the present case of a 64-year-old woman with an enlarging anterior chest wall mass over a six-month period, SBP may be diagnosed during routine clinical or radiological examination for other conditions (Figure 1). A soft tissue extension of the tumour may result in a palpable mass, particularly if a rib is involved. Pathological fracture of ribs and compression fractures of vertebral bodies, as well as cord compression, may be the other presenting features of SBP. For extramedullary plasmacytomas, the lesions may grow in the aerodigestive tracts and cause hoarseness, dyspnea and hemoptysis. Extramedullary