The following symptoms and complaints may indicate plasmacytoma:
Leading symptoms
- Bone pain* (diffuse) and musculoskeletal pain, especially in the back; increasing with movement (bone pain results from osteolysis (bone loss) or osteoporosis (bone loss) of the spine and ribs; note: in vertebrae, the vertebral bodies themselves are particularly affected; in contrast, in carcinoma metastases, the vertebral arches are preferred)
- Increased susceptibility to infection
- Fever
- Weight loss
- Fatigue / tiredness
- Night sweats (night sweats)
- Decreased performance / exhaustion
Note: One quarter of affected individuals are symptom-free at diagnosis.
Late symptoms
- Anemia* (anemia; due to plasma cellular bone marrow infiltration and other factors).
- Exertional dyspnea – shortness of breath on exertion.
- Cephalgia (headache)
- Flush (facial redness due to vasodilatation/vasodilatation).
- Hemorrhagic diathesis – blood clotting disorder with increased bleeding tendency.
- Hypercalcemia* (excess calcium; due to osteolytic bone loss); this leads to lethargy and weakness
- Hyperuricemia – increased uric acid levels in the blood.
- Hyperviscosity syndrome (HVS) – symptoms such as headache, visual disturbances, fatigue caused by increased viscosity of the blood.
- Crystalline keratopathy (disease of the cornea of the eye; crystalline deposits in the corneal stroma); ribbon-like degeneration – as a corneal manifestation.
- Renal dysfunction* (due to Bence-Jones proteinuria with tubular precipitation).
- Pancytopenia* (synonym: tricytopenia) – reduction of all cell series in the blood (caused by plasma cellular bone marrow infiltration).
- Pathological fractures* (bone fracture during normal loading due to weakening of the bone by disease).
- Polyneuropathy* – nerve damage affecting multiple nerves.
- Nephrotic syndrome* – collective term for symptoms that occur in various diseases of the glomerulus (renal corpuscles); the symptoms are proteinuria (increased excretion of protein in the urine) with a loss of protein; hypoproteinemia, peripheral edema (water retention) due to hypoalbuminemia (decreased level of albumin in the blood), hyperlipoproteinemia (lipid metabolism disorder).
- Sepsis (blood poisoning)
* Myeloma-type end organ damage.
