Multiple chromosomal abnormalities in fulminant anaplastic myeloma

Abstract

We describe a 58-year-old woman with anaplastic multiple myeloma and multiple chromosomal abnormalities. Her karyotype showed extreme hyperploidy with 77 chromosomes. Some of the aberrations were typical of multiple myeloma (+3, +5, +15, +19, +21, t(11; 14)(q13; q32)), others were characteristic of the aggressive anaplastic myeloma (+8), t(11;14)(q13;q32), while three chromosomal abnormalities (t(11;20)(p11;q13); t(4; 7)(q31; q11); and t(14; 20)(q24; q13)) have not been, to the best of our knowledge, described previously in the literature. The fulminant course of the disease confirms the poor prognosis of multiple karyotypic abnormalities in myeloma.