[Acute plasma cell leukemia. Clinical course during high-dose melphalan therapy]

A 29-year-old woman, with a slightly elevated temperature for 3 weeks, increasing dyspnoea at rest, markedly reduced general condition and in heart failure, was found to have a leucocytosis of 100,000/microliters, anaemia (haemoglobin 6.3 g/dl) and thrombocytopenia (41,000/microliters). There were 62% plasma cells in the blood smear. Immunoelectrophoresis of serum and urine revealed kappa-light chains and immunocytology demonstrated IgG-kappa. There was no radiological evidence of osteolysis, while ultrasound examination showed multiple abdominal lymphomas and marked hepatosplenomegaly. Bone marrow smear showed a 90% infiltration of plasma cells. High-dosage melphalan treatment (single intravenous injection of 140 mg/m2) resulted in complete remission after myelodepression over several weeks. Two extramedullary recurrences 5 and 12 months after the diagnosis had been made were successfully treated with high-dosage melphalan, but it was associated with severe and long-lasting myelodepression. Septicaemia with renal and hepatic failure developed and the patient died 6 weeks after the third course of high-dosage melphalan, 14 months after the diagnosis.