Case report reveals acute pancreatitis as an unusual first sign of plasma cell leukemia in a young male, suggesting need for awareness.
Plasma cell leukemia (PCL) is a rare and aggressive plasma cell neoplasm characterized by the presence of neoplastic plasma cells in the peripheral blood. It may arise de novo (primary PCL) or may evolve from a previously existing plasma cell neoplasm (secondary PCL). It is typically a disease of old age, with a median age of incidence of approximately 55 years. Primary PCL is often considered a manifestation of extra-medullary myeloma (EMM) and is typically associated with extensive organ involvement, while lacking extensive osteolytic lesions. We present the case of a 24-year-old male patient who presented with acute pancreatitis without an initial suspicion of a hematological malignancy and whose routine peripheral blood evaluation, followed by bone marrow examination and flow cytometry, revealed a diagnosis of primary PCL.
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Chatterjee et al. (2026) studied this question.
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