The Presence of Multinuceated Plasma Cells in Bone Marrow Aspirates Has No Clinical Significance.

Abstract 4904

There is no published literature on the clinical significance of multinucleated plasma cells in bone marrow aspirates. The few references in the literature that mention multinucleated plasma cells imply that their presence is pathologic. We decided to investigate the clinical significance of these cells. All bone marrow aspirates done at the Atlanta VAMC from 1/1/99 until 8/1/99 were examined by a skilled hematopathology technician for 2 minutes. The presence of multinucleated plasma cells were recorded if they were identified. We then determined clinical characteristics of the patients and compared the characteristics of those with multinucleated plasma cells and those without. RESULTS. There were a total of 61 aspirates for review. 34 of these had identified multinucleated plasma cells MNPCs. The average age of the group with MNPC was 58.7 years (SD 15.4) and the group without MNPC was 61.6 (SD 12.4). 11 of the 27 patients without MNPC were alive at 10 years (41%) while 14 of the 34 patients with MNPC were alive at 10 years (also 41%). Among the group with MNPC who were still alive at 10 years the average change in serum creatinine over the 10 year period was .23 mg/dl. Among the group without MNPCs the average change in serum creatinine over the 10 year period was .26 mg/dl. Finally, 12 of the 34 patients (35%)with MNPCs were found to have a clonal lymphoid disorder sometime over the 10 year period after their aspirate, while 10 of the 27 patients (37%, a nonsignificant difference)without MNPCs were found to have a clonal lymphoid disorder.