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Pleural effusion is a rare presentation of plasma cell myeloma, occurring in around 6% of patients during the course of their disease, most commonly as a consequence of a concurrent disease process like heart failure secondary to amyloid deposition. Direct infiltration of the pleural fluid by malignant cells leading to myelomatous pleural effusion is a rare mechanism occurring in less than 1% of patients with plasma cell myeloma, and it is associated with a worse prognosis. There are few case reports of myelomatous pleural effusion as an initial presentation of multiple myeloma. Pleural fluid infiltration by monoclonal plasma cells in the absence of an underlying plasma cell myeloma was not reported before in the literature. Tuberculosis is a known cause of polyclonal gammaglobulinemia, however few case reports described the coexistence of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance and tuberculosis. Here we present an interesting case of pleural fluid infiltration by an abnormal looking clonal plasma cells associated with active pulmonary tuberculosis and parapneumonic effusion in a patient with a background of acute myeloid leukemia. Interestingly, the clonal plasma cell proliferation was confined to the pleural fluid without any evidence of an underlying plasma cell neoplasms (including monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance and plasmacytomas). Since our patient had an underlying meyloid neoplasm, we though about the possibility of secondary malignancy. However, in almost all patients with coexisting myeloid and plasma cell neoplasms, myeloid neoplasms developed following chemotherapeutic treatment of plasma cell neoplasms not the other way around. Given that, one must conclude localized extramedullary (pleural) plasma cell proliferation probably represents a transient reactive process to pulmonary tuberculosis which is an extremely rare phenomenon and not described before.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) increases the risk of coagulopathy. Although the presence of antiphospholipid antibodies (aPLs) has been proposed as a possible mechanism of COVID-19-induced coagulopathy, its clinical significance remains uncertain. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the prevalence and clinical significance of aPLs among critically ill patients with COVID-19. This prospective observational study included 60 patients with COVID-19 admitted to intensive care units (ICU). The study outcomes included prevalence of aPLs, and a primary composite outcome of all-cause mortality and arterial or venous thrombosis between antiphospholipid-positive and antiphospholipid-negative patients during their ICU stay. Multiple logistic regression was used to assess the influence of aPLs on the primary composite outcome of mortality and thrombosis. A total of 60 critically ill patients were enrolled. Among them, 57 (95%) were men, with a mean age of 52.8 ± 12.2 years, and the majority were from Asia (68%). Twenty-two patients (37%) were found be antiphospholipid-positive; 21 of them were positive for lupus anticoagulant, whereas one patient was positive for anti-β2-glycoprotein IgG/IgM. The composite outcome of mortality and thrombosis during their ICU stay did not differ between antiphospholipid-positive and antiphospholipid-negative patients (4 [18%] vs. 6 [16%], adjusted odds ratio 0.98, 95% confidence interval 0.1–6.7; p value = 0.986). The presence of aPLs does not seem to affect the outcomes of critically ill patients with COVID-19 in terms of all-cause mortality and thrombosis. Therefore, clinicians may not screen critically ill patients with COVID-19 for aPLs unless deemed clinically appropriate.Other Information Published in: Rheumatology International License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0See article on publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00296-021-04875-7

We present a rather uncommon side effect observed in a 20-year-old man with acute promyelocytic leukemia during treatment with ATRA. He developed a high platelet counts reaching up to 1655×109/L on day 29 of ATRA treatment, and started to recover spontaneously on day 33 of treatment, without any change in ATRA, or adding any cytoreduction therapy. No complications associated with thrombocytosis were observed. IL-6 seems to play an important role in the pathogenesis of the thrombocytosis induced by ATRA. However, it is unclear what are the precipitating factors for this rare phenomenon and whether it is caused by certain predisposing factors that might be related to patient’s, disease pathogenesis or other unknown factors. (www.actabiomedica.it)

Background. Mast cell leukaemia is a unique disease among hematopoietic neoplasms, being one of the rarest leukaemia subtypes. In addition, its prompt diagnosis is usually challenging. This is due to its heterogeneity in clinical presentations and cytomorphological and immunophenotypical features together with potential associations with other hematologic neoplasms which can complicate the condition and delay accurate diagnosis. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report of CD4-positive mast cell leukaemia. Case Presentation. A 39-year-old male presented with acute onset of fever, abdominal pain, and generalized body aches of two-week duration. Peripheral blood smear showed circulating blasts (13%) with coarsely basophilic granulation. Bone marrow (BM) aspirate showed extensive infiltration with immature mast cells of blast-like morphology with trilineage dysplasia and evident hemophagocytic activity exhibited by histiocytes and neoplastic mast cells. BM biopsy was diffusely infiltrated with many atypical mast cells positive for CD45, CD117, mast cell tryptase, CD25, and CD4 with partial positivity for CD7 and CD30. Cytogenetics showed an abnormal karyotype: 47, XY, +1947, XY, +19[13]/46, XY[9]. Molecular analysis revealed a KIT D816V mutation consistent with a diagnosis of systemic mastocytosis, mast cell leukaemia. Conclusion. The expression of T-cell associated markers by abnormal mast cells is well documented; however, CD4 and CD7 expression have not previously been described in association with mast cell leukaemia. Coexpression of CD2, CD4, CD7, and CD30 by the mast cells particularly in skin lesions may provoke misinterpretation as a cutaneous T-cell neoplasm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of CD4-positive mast cell leukaemia. Moreover, hemophagocytic mast cell leukaemia is a very rare morphologic variant, and possible correlation between this finding and expression of CD4 by neoplastic mast cells is a topic for further investigation.

According to World Health Organization (WHO) classification (2008), B-cell neoplasms are classified into precursor B-cell or a mature B-cell phenotype and this classification was also kept in the latest WHO revision (2016). We are reporting a male patient in his fifties, with tonsillar swelling diagnosed as diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), germinal center. He received 6 cycles of RCHOP and showed complete metabolic response. Two months later, he presented with severe CNS symptoms. Flow cytometry on bone marrow (BM) showed infiltration by CD10-positive Kappa-restricted B-cells with loss of CD20 and CD19, and downregulation of CD79b. Moreover, the malignant population showed Tdt expression. BM Cytogenetics revealed t(8;14)(q24;q32) within a complex karyotype. Retrospectively, MYC and Tdt immunostains performed on original diagnostic tissue and came negative for Tdt and positive for MYC. It has been rarely reported that mature B-cell neoplasms present with features of immaturity; however the significance of Tdt acquisition during disease course was not addressed before. What is unique in this case is that the emerging disease has acquired an immaturity marker while retaining some features of the original mature clone. No definitive WHO category would adopt high-grade neoplasms that exhibit significant overlapping features between mature and immature phenotypes.