Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
Filter by Categories
Acknowledgements
Authors’ reply
Book Review
Book Reviews
Classics In Indian Medicine
Clinical Case Report
Clinical Case Reports
Clinical Research Methods
Clinico-pathological Conference
Clinicopathological Conference
Conferences
Correspondence
Corrigendum
Editorial
Eminent Indians in Medicine
Errata
Erratum
Everyday Practice
Film Review
History of Medicine
HOW TO DO IT
Images In Medicine
Indian Medical Institutions
Letter from Bristol
Letter from Chennai
Letter From Ganiyari
Letter from Glasgow
Letter from London
Letter from Mangalore
Letter From Mumbai
Letter From Nepal
Masala
Medical Education
Medical Ethics
Medicine and Society
News From Here And There
Notice of Retraction
Notices
Obituaries
Obituary
Original Article
Original Articles
Review Article
Selected Summaries
Selected Summary
Short Report
Short Reports
Speaking for Myself
Speaking for Ourselve
Speaking for Ourselves
Students@nmji
Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
Filter by Categories
Acknowledgements
Authors’ reply
Book Review
Book Reviews
Classics In Indian Medicine
Clinical Case Report
Clinical Case Reports
Clinical Research Methods
Clinico-pathological Conference
Clinicopathological Conference
Conferences
Correspondence
Corrigendum
Editorial
Eminent Indians in Medicine
Errata
Erratum
Everyday Practice
Film Review
History of Medicine
HOW TO DO IT
Images In Medicine
Indian Medical Institutions
Letter from Bristol
Letter from Chennai
Letter From Ganiyari
Letter from Glasgow
Letter from London
Letter from Mangalore
Letter From Mumbai
Letter From Nepal
Masala
Medical Education
Medical Ethics
Medicine and Society
News From Here And There
Notice of Retraction
Notices
Obituaries
Obituary
Original Article
Original Articles
Review Article
Selected Summaries
Selected Summary
Short Report
Short Reports
Speaking for Myself
Speaking for Ourselve
Speaking for Ourselves
Students@nmji
View/Download PDF

Translate this page into:

Images in Medicine
35 (
5
); 310-310
doi:
10.25259/NMJI_412_2022

Incidental solitary plasmacytoma detected during Covid-19: A challenging clinical presentation!

Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Sree Balaji Medical College and Hospital, 7, CLC Work Road, Chromepet, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Department of Pathology, Sree Balaji Medical College and Hospital, 7, CLC Work Road, Chromepet, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Department of Radiology, Sree Balaji Medical College and Hospital, 7, CLC Work Road, Chromepet, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Licence
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.

[To cite: Revendran J, Jishna G, Ashwin Kailash J, Sahana K, Johnson T, Ravindran R. Incidental solitary plasmacytoma detected during Covid-19: A challenging clinical presentation! Natl Med J India 2022;35:310.]

Plasma cell neoplasms are blood dyscrasias characterized by neoplastic proliferation of plasma cells leading to monoclonal gammopathy. Solitary plasmacytoma is characterized by a single lytic lesion of the bone with minimal or no marrow involvement and absence of systemic features. A 71-year-old man presented with complaints of breathlessness, cough and right-sided chest pain radiating posteriorly to anteriorly. The symptoms had started following Covid-19 infection 2 weeks ago. Contrast-enhanced CT of the thorax (CECT) showed a soft tissue mass in the right paravertebral region adjacent to D9 vertebra with a cortical break in the posterior aspect of the 9th rib (Fig. 1). Histology of the paravertebral mass lesion was suggestive of a plasma cell neoplasm (Fig. 2). Immunohistochemistry showed plasma cell lineage (both kappa and lambda) and was positive for CD-138. The patient had dimorphic anaemia and his serum calcium levels and renal functions were normal. Skeletal survey including skull, vertebrae, both shoulder joints, hip joints and bilateral femur showed no other lytic lesions. Serum protein electrophoresis showed an M band 2.7 g/dl (Fig. 3). Urine was negative for Bence–Jones protein. Bone marrow studies showed <10% plasma cells. Hence, a diagnosis of solitary bone plasmacytoma was made. He was started on radiotherapy (45 Gy/25 fractions) over 5 weeks. During imaging for Covid-19, clinicians should be vigilant about the coexistence of unrelated but potentially treatable clinical conditions.

Contrast-enhanced CT thorax showing a soft tissue density mass lesion in the right paravertebral region adjacent to D9 vertebra causing cortical break in the posterior aspect of the 9th rib
FIG 1.
Contrast-enhanced CT thorax showing a soft tissue density mass lesion in the right paravertebral region adjacent to D9 vertebra causing cortical break in the posterior aspect of the 9th rib
Histopathological examination showing sheets of plasma cells with eccentrically placed nuclei (H&E ×400)
FIG 2.
Histopathological examination showing sheets of plasma cells with eccentrically placed nuclei (H&E ×400)
Serum protein electrophoresis showing M band
FIG 3.
Serum protein electrophoresis showing M band

Conflicts of interest

None


Fulltext Views
1,331

PDF downloads
874
View/Download PDF
Download Citations
BibTeX
RIS
Show Sections