Due to causes still unclear for the moment, plasmacytoma is a tumor similar to multiple myeloma, which often constitutes the prelude to the "onset of the latter".
Plasmacytoma causes different symptoms depending on where there is the abnormal proliferation of plasma cells.
Typically, the diagnosis of plasmacytoma requires: physical examination, medical history, serum electrophoresis, urine test for Bence Jones protein, complete blood count, tumor biopsy, and imaging tests such as MRI and PET.
In most cases, the treatment of plasmacytoma is based on the use of radiotherapy; more rarely, it involves surgery or radiotherapy associated with chemotherapy.
The "isolated" adjective indicates the presence of a single and circumscribed proliferating tumor mass.
Also known as isolated plasmacytoma, plasmacytoma is strongly similar to the better known multiple myeloma, another blood cancer; to distinguish these blood neoplasms is the fact that the second - multiple myeloma - is a widespread condition, in which there are several proliferating tumor masses and not just one (as happens instead in plasmacytoma).
Many medical texts and experts in the field describe and consider multiple myeloma an advanced and widespread form of plasmacytoma, so much so that they define it with the "expression" multiple plasmacytoma.
Brief review of what "is a plasma cell
Plasma cells, or plasmocytes, are the differentiated cells of the immune system, which produce antibodies, ie the glycoproteins used to defend the human organism from infections.
Plasma cells arise from B lymphocytes, under stimulation of T lymphocytes helper and following a process that experts in the field call antigen recognition.
In immunology, an antigen is defined as any substance or molecule that the immune system recognizes as foreign or potentially dangerous.
the origin of the plasmacytoma - are unknown.Experts on the subject, however, have observed that the tumor in question is more frequent in the presence of:
- A past history of exposure to ionizing radiation;
- A past history of exposure to particular chemicals, including petroleum derivatives, pesticides, solvents and asbestos;
- Immunodeficiency state (due, for example, to AIDS or organ transplantation), which is superimposed by a "herpes virus 8 or herpes virus 4 (or Epstein-Barr virus) viral infection.
Curiosity
The factors favoring plasmacytoma are the same risk factors as for multiple myeloma; this is a "further confirmation of the analogies present between these two neoplastic conditions.
Types of Plasmacytoma
Doctors recognize two types of plasmacytoma: solitary bone plasmacytoma (or solitary bone plasmacytoma) and solitary extramedullary plasmacytoma.
- Solitary plasmacytoma of the bone: it is the plasmacytoma in which the phenomenon of abnormal and isolated proliferation of plasma cells takes place in the bone and bone marrow.
The solitary plasmacytoma of the bone is usually located on the spine, but it could also affect, alternatively, the bones of the pelvis, the ribs, the bones of the upper limbs (humerus, radius and ulna), the bones of the face, the bones of the skull, femur or breastbone.
Solitary bone plasmacytoma is a tumor strongly associated with the development, in later times, of multiple myeloma; doctors, in fact, have observed that 50-70% of cases of solitary bone plasmacytoma result, within the following 5- 10 years from onset, in multiple myeloma; - Solitary extramedullary plasmacytoma: it is the plasmacytoma in which the phenomenon of abnormal and isolated proliferation of plasma cells is based on soft tissues, outside the bone and bone marrow.
Extramedullary solitary plasmacytoma affects the upper airways (in particular, nose, sinuses, and throat) most frequently (85% of cases), but may also affect the gastrointestinal tract, lymph nodes, or lungs as an alternative.
Even solitary extramedullary plasmacytoma can lead to multiple myeloma, but this phenomenon - it should be noted - is much rarer (only in 10% of clinical cases) than in solitary bone plasmacytoma.
As the reader may notice, the site of tumor onset (bone and bone marrow or soft tissue) distinguishes the two recognized types of plasmacytoma.
Among the two recognized types of plasmacytoma, the solitary plasmacytoma of the bone is, statistic in hand, the most common.
Curiosity
The US non-profit organization known as International Myeloma Working Group, which includes doctors and researchers specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of multiple myeloma and related cancers (such as plasmacytoma).
Epidemiology
Plasmacytoma is an uncommon tumor.
Statistics in hand, middle-aged people (50 years old) and the elderly around 60-65 years suffer the most; in young people and young adults, its onset is to be considered a real rarity.
Solitary bone plasmacytoma accounts for 3-5% of all cancers affecting plasma cells.
In each of its variants (therefore both when it affects the bone marrow and when it concerns the soft tissues), the plasmacytoma is more frequent in men (the ratio with women is 2: 1, in the case of solitary plasmacytoma of the " bone, and 3: 1 in the case of solitary extramedullary plasmacytoma).
Did you know that ...
Multiple myeloma affects an even older population more frequently than that affected by plasmacytoma.
Specifically, multiple myeloma is particularly common in people over the age of 70.
Extramedullary Solitary Plasmacytoma: Symptoms Details
Solitary extramedullary plasmacytoma produces symptoms related to a malfunction or discomfort of the affected soft tissue; for example, those who develop a solitary extramedullary plasmacytoma along a tract of the upper airways (as already stated, this site is characteristic of 85% of cases of solitary extramedullary plasmacytoma) may complain of disorders such as: rhinorrhea, epistaxis and nasal obstruction.
Complications
Wearing the role of complication of plasmacytoma is the tendency of this tumor, especially in the bone variant (solitary plasmacytoma of the bone), to become multiple myeloma.
The multiple myeloma that derives from a plasmacytoma is equivalent to a sort of evolution of the latter.
As stated in the description of the types of plasmacytoma, the likelihood of multiple myeloma resulting from it is greater in the bone variant.
When to see a doctor?
Especially in an individual at risk of plasmacytoma (and, given the affinity, of multiple myeloma), being the victim of a bone fracture in the absence of trauma is a valid reason to contact a doctor or go to the nearest hospital center. or conditions such as osteoporosis, or the appearance, for no apparent reason, of symptoms such as rhinorrhea, nasal obstruction and / or epistaxis (NB: in light of the above, in most cases, solitary extramedullary plasmacytoma produces these symptoms ).
called serum protein electrophoresis. It is a test for the analysis of the antibodies present in the serum of an individual.Serum protein electrophoresis is useful, because it allows to identify a serological anomaly characteristic of many cases of plasmacytoma, which takes the name of paraproteinemia and which consists, in a nutshell, in an unusual accumulation of a certain type of monoclonal antibody;
- A biopsy of the bone marrow or soft tissue found to be affected. It is used to identify abnormal plasma cells and to outline their characteristics; moreover, it helps to distinguish plasmacytoma from multiple myeloma, by counting the sites of proliferation (a solitary proliferation is an indication of plasmacytoma);
- Test of imaging, such as MRI and / or PET. They help distinguish between plasmacytoma and multiple myeloma, because they are able to detect the site or sites of plasma cell proliferation.
Did you know that ...
Statistics in hand, paraproteinemia characterizes about 60% of cases of solitary bone plasmacytoma and about 25% of cases of extramedullary solitary plasmacytoma.
), which are intended to destroy neoplastic cells.Radiotherapy lends itself very well to the treatment of isolated and circumscribed tumors, which is the reason why it is the first choice treatment for plasmacytoma (a neoplasm, precisely, isolated to circumscribed).
Did you know that ...
Tumors which, being isolated and circumscribed, lend themselves very well to radiotherapy are defined with the term "radiosensitive tumors".
Surgery: What Involves and When Is It Used?
Very rarely applied, the surgical treatment of plasmacytoma consists in the removal of the tumor proliferation zone.
To justify the use of surgery can be:
- The presence of a solitary extramedullary plasmacytoma, except in cases of cancer of the nose area (for aesthetic reasons);
- The presence of a solitary plasmacytoma of the bone that produces skeletal instability or continuous fractures of the affected bone portion.
Chemotherapy: What is it and when is it needed?
Chemotherapy is the administration of drugs capable of killing rapidly growing cells, including cancer cells.
Normally, doctors treat plasmacytoma with the combination radiotherapy-chemotherapy, when they want to implement an even more powerful treatment against the neoplasm.
As anticipated, in the presence of plasmacytoma, the use of chemotherapy is reserved for a few circumstances.
Curiosity
Chemotherapy drugs for the treatment of plasmacytoma are the same chemotherapy drugs used for the treatment of multiple myeloma.
After Treatment: What Happens?
Anyone who has developed a plasmacytoma and has undergone all the appropriate treatments must follow, at the end of the latter, a follow-up program, which includes laboratory tests on blood and urine, and imaging tests at regular intervals. with the aim of monitoring the response to therapy in the long term.
