Metastasis in a Peripheral LymphNode as a First Sign of Skeletal AnaplasticPlasmocytoma: Two Case Histories

Overview

The paper discusses two unusual cases of solitary skeletal plasmacytoma and multiple myelomapresenting clinically as a metastatic disease in cervical lymph nodes. The pathology report oflymph node plasmacytoma initiated an extensive clinical search for eventual discovery of skeletaldisease in both patients. We are not aware of any report in the literature dealing with this issue(Medline 1970-2000).The early involvement of lymph nodes by plasmacytoma with the appearance of undifferentiatedneoplasm is challenging and poses great difficulties in correct diagnosis; this is almost impossiblefrom hematoxylin eosin slides.The problem is that one has to think about the rare possibility of metastazing plasmacytoma indifferential diagnosis of anaplastic tumors in lymph nodes.Immunohistochemistry and clinical records are very helpful in making a final diagnosis.

Key words:
skeleton - multiple myeloma - solitary plasmacytoma - extramedullary plasmacytoma -metastasis - anaplastic - lymph node