Variant Burkitt-type translocation (8;22)(q24;q11) in plasma cell myeloma

Variant Burkitt-type translocation, t(8;22)(q24;q11), is very rare in plasma cell myeloma. We report a 51-year-old male patient with plasma cell myeloma, who showed t(8;22) (q24;q11). He suffered from pelvic pain for two months, and showed IgG, lambda type of monoclonal gammopathy (5.14 g/dL; 49.9% of protein). His bone marrow examination showed increased plasma cells (66.9% of all nucleated cells). Plasma cells (74.9% of all nucleated cells) and monoclonal spike (3.38 g/dL; 42.2%) persisted after three cycles of thalidomide and dexamethasone. Cytogenetic analysis showed complex chromosomal abnormalities: 44,XY,-1,t(2;5)(q33;q13),add(8)(q24.1),t(8;22)(q24.1;q11.2),add(10) (p15), der(11)t(1;11)(q21;p11.2),del(12)(p11.2p13),-13,-14,add(14)(q32),der(15)t(1;15)(p2 2;p11.2),-16,add(17)(q11.2),+21,+1-3mar[cp6]/46,XY[19]. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on plasma cell myeloma with a variant Burkitt-type t(8;22)(q24;q11) in the Korean patient. A review of 11 such cases in the literature, including the present case, implicated that plasma cell myeloma with t(8;22)(q24;q11) might be related to advanced stage and poor prognosis.