title: The "mini brain" appearance of plasmacytoma in the appendicular skeleton.
abstract: We report on the case of a 70-year-old woman presenting with right hip pain. Radiographs of the right hip demonstrated a well-defined large lytic lesion in the proximal right femur, with prominent trabeculae situated peripherally and extending into the lesion in a "spoke-wheel" pattern. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated solid enhancing marrow-replacing lesion, with intervening linear nonenhancing areas of low T2 signal intensity. The MRI appearance resembled that of a small brain or "mini brain". Biopsy specimen demonstrated predominantly mature plasma cells, with occasional admixed immature forms. A diagnosis of plasmacytosis, consistent with myeloma, was made. This case illustrates a rare but seemingly characteristic "mini brain" appearance of plasmacytoma, which, to date, has only been reported in the spine and has not been observed in other bony lesions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Ave. A21, Cleveland, OH, 44195, USA. subhasn@ccf.org
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Subhas
authors.forename: T W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Bauer
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Joyce
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sundaram
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001706:Biopsy; D005260:Female; D005266:Femoral Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D010954:Plasmacytoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed