Fine needle aspiration cytology in the diagnosis of multiple myeloma

Multiple Myeloma (MM) is a disseminated plasma cell tumor caused by the proliferation of a single plasma cell clone which results from the production of monoclonal immunoglobulin, most commonly class G (IgG). MM is a cancer of the elderly, with a mean age at diagnosis of 68 years. A 79-year-old white patient sought the outpatient clinic of the Discipline of Stomatology, Sao Jose dos Campos Dental School, UNESP, because of a fracture associated with an osteolytic lesion in the right ascending ramus of the mandible. In view of the clinical-radiographic findings, exploratory fine needle aspiration (FNA) of the lesion was performed and the sanguinolent material obtained was submitted to the preparations of smears for cytology analysis. The diagnosis of MM was based on laboratory and radiographic findings. FNA cytology analysis of the lesion permitted a diagnostic hypothesis of MM.