Surgery combined with radiotherapy for the treatment of solitary plasmacytoma of the rib: a case report and review of the literature

Solitary plasmacytoma of the bone, especially of a single rib, is a rare disease. We present the case of a 44-year-old Han Chinese man who was diagnosed with a solitary plasmacytoma of the bone located in the right sixth rib. The patient presented with a 4-year history of continuous pain in the right chest area and moderate fever lasting 7 days. A chest roentgenogram showed a solitary expanding lesion in the right thorax, and chest computed tomography revealed an osteolytic tumor in the chest wall. The patient underwent complete en-bloc resection of the chest wall, including the ribs, muscle, and parietal pleura. Histologically, the resected mass was composed of abundant neoplastic plasma cells, and the diagnosis was confirmed to be a plasmacytoma of rib. The examination of marrow cells showed 9 % normal plasma cells among karyocytes without clonal disease. On postoperative day 14, the patient underwent thoracic radiotherapy with a total dose of 50 Gy. The patient remained asymptomatic during the 6-month follow-up period. Herein, we also review previous reports on solitary plasmacytomas of the rib. In summary, this report provides further insights for the diagnosis and effective treatment of this rare disease.