Extramedullary plasmacytoma of the lung

✍ Scribed by Rajni Amin

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1985
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 533 KB
• Volume: 56
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0008-543X
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-0142(19850701)56:1<152::aid-cncr2820560124>3.0.co;2-e

✦ Synopsis

Three patients with extramedullary plasmacytoma of the lung are described, one of whom also had cervical lymph node metastasis, with the production of an M-protein. The production of M-protein normalized after successful treatment of the localized disease. In all three patients, the disease was locally controlled with radiation therapy, but it became generalized from 6 months to less than 3 years of the initial presentation. Cancer 56:152-156, 1985. XTRAMEDULLARY plasmacytoma (EMP) is an un-E common tumor that may arise in any extramedullary organ or tissue. Most frequently it occurs in the soft tissue of the head and neck, notably in the upper air passages.'.' Discrete intrapulmonary plasmacytomas are exceedingly rare. The first case was reported by Gordon and Walker.3 Since then there have been only occasional reports of intrapulmonary plasmacytomas in the literat~re.~-" Wiltshaw,' in a review of the world literature, collected 228 cases of EMP and added 44 cases of her own series from the Royal Marsden Hospital, London.

Of the 272 cases reported only 13 arose from the lower air passages and the lung. Three further cases of extramedullary pulmonary plasmacytoma are reported here. In all three patients, the disease was locally controlled with radiation therapy alone, but generalized dissemination of the disease took place in all three patients from 6 months to less than 3 years of the initial presentation.

Case Reports

Case I

A 63-year-old man presented in May 1977 with a 6-month history of cough, increasing shortness of breath, hemoptysis, and pain across the front of his chest. Clinical examination revealed no abnormality of note. A full blood count, biochemical profile, serum electrophoresis, and urine analysis for Bence-Jones protein (BJP) were normal. A chest x-ray showed From the Department of Radiation Oncology, Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital (Wonford), Exeter, Devon, England.