2018Journal of Investigative Medicine High Impact Case ReportsOpen access

A Case of Concurrent Gastric and Pancreatic Plasmacytomas in a Patient With Multiple Myeloma: An Extremely Rare Entity

Tagore Sunkara, Santosh Raj Sharma, Andrew Ofosu, Vinaya Gaduputi, Madhavi Reddy, Ghulamullah Shahzad

Open full text 3 citations

Abstract

Multiple myeloma (MM), a plasma cell tumor, is primarily a disease of the bone marrow. Extramedullary plasmacytoma, also a plasma cell tumor, is very rare in the gastrointestinal tract and the pancreas, and only a handful cases have been documented till now. Gastric and pancreatic plasmacytomas are usually seen in elderly patients; however, cases in patients as young as 32 years of age have been reported. Commonly, patients with gastric plasmacytoma present with nonspecific symptoms like epigastric pain, abdominal fullness, anorexia, and weight loss, or serious conditions like massive upper gastrointestinal bleeding and gastric outlet obstruction. Patients with pancreatic plasmacytoma commonly present with obstructive jaundice. In this article, we present the case of a 79-year-old man with a history of MM for 3 years, diagnosed with gastric and pancreatic masses, which turned out to be plasmacytomas. To our knowledge, simultaneous occurrence of gastric and pancreatic plasmacytomas is extremely uncommon with less than 5 cases reported in the literature. We also compiled all the individual cases of gastric and pancreatic MM that have been reported in literature till now.

Open-access reader

About this research paper

What this paper is about

Multiple myeloma (MM), a plasma cell tumor, is primarily a disease of the bone marrow. Extramedullary plasmacytoma, also a plasma cell tumor, is very rare in the gastrointestinal tract and the pancreas, and only a handful cases have been documented till now. Gastric and pancreatic plasmacytomas are usually seen in elderly patients; however, cases in patients as young as 32 years of age have been reported. Commonly, patients with gastric plasmacytoma present with nonspecific symptoms like epigastric pain, abdominal fullness, anorexia, and weight loss, or serious conditions like massive upper gastrointestinal bleeding and gastric outlet obstruction. Patients with pancreatic plasmacytoma commonly present with obstructive jaundice. In this article, we present the case of a 79-year-old man with a history of MM for 3 years, diagnosed with gastric and pancreatic masses, which turned out to be plasmacytomas. To our knowledge, simultaneous occurrence of gastric and pancreatic plasmacytomas is extremely uncommon with less than 5 cases reported in the literature. We also compiled all the individual cases of gastric and pancreatic MM that have been reported in literature till now.

Why it matters

OpenAlex reports 3 citations for this work. Citation counts describe recorded attention and do not establish research quality.

Key contribution

A contribution statement is not available in the OpenAlex record.

Method / approach

Method details are not available in the OpenAlex metadata.

Main findings

Findings are not separately available in the OpenAlex metadata.

Limitations

Limitations are not available in the OpenAlex metadata.

Applications

Application details are not available in the OpenAlex metadata.

Available abstract

Multiple myeloma (MM), a plasma cell tumor, is primarily a disease of the bone marrow. Extramedullary plasmacytoma, also a plasma cell tumor, is very rare in the gastrointestinal tract and the pancreas, and only a handful cases have been documented till now. Gastric and pancreatic plasmacytomas are usually seen in elderly patients; however, cases in patients as young as 32 years of age have been reported. Commonly, patients with gastric plasmacytoma present with nonspecific symptoms like epigastric pain, abdominal fullness, anorexia, and weight loss, or serious conditions like massive upper gastrointestinal bleeding and gastric outlet obstruction. Patients with pancreatic plasmacytoma commonly present with obstructive jaundice. In this article, we present the case of a 79-year-old man with a history of MM for 3 years, diagnosed with gastric and pancreatic masses, which turned out to be plasmacytomas. To our knowledge, simultaneous occurrence of gastric and pancreatic plasmacytomas is extremely uncommon with less than 5 cases reported in the literature. We also compiled all the individual cases of gastric and pancreatic MM that have been reported in literature till now.

Key concepts: Medicine, Plasmacytoma, Multiple myeloma, Pancreas, Abdominal pain, Epigastric pain, Plasma cell neoplasm, Gastroenterology

Related papers

Back to paper searchBrowse research topicsOriginal source
A Case of Concurrent Gastric and Pancreatic Plasmacytomas in a Patient With Multiple Myeloma: An Extremely Rare Entity — Research Paper | ScholarLens