SOLITARY PLASMACYTOMA OF THE SPINE ASSOCIATED WITH NEUROLOGICAL COMPLICATIONS

We report eight patients with a solitary plasmacytoma of the spine ass ociated with neurological complications. The patients included five me n and three women with an average age at presentation of 59 years (ran ge, 47 to 73 years). The tumour was confined to the thoracic spine in six cases, cervical spine in one and lumbar spine in one. Duration of symptoms ranged from 2.5 to 22 months. Treatment consisted of a combin ation of radiotherapy, melphalan and surgery. One patient progressed t o multiple myeloma 7 years after surgery. Surgical treatment (anterior surgery in three cases and posterior surgery in five) produced neurol ogical improvement in all patients. We stress the importance of an ear ly diagnosis followed by appropriate treatment including surgery for t his clinical entity and long-term follow-up to detect a disseminated d isease.