Background: Flower-shaped nuclei in plasma cells are rare in multiple myeloma.
Case presentation: We report on an 88-year-old male who presented with a mass lesion in the clavicular region. A biopsy of the mass revealed an increase in mature plasma cells with round nuclei. In contrast, a bone marrow examination showed increased plasma cells with flower-shaped nuclei. The patient tested negative for human T-lymphotropic virus type-1 and was diagnosed with multiple myeloma.
Conclusions: While multiple myeloma is known for intra-tumor heterogeneity, reports of morphological heterogeneity based on the site of tumor sampling are limited. In this case, the presence of plasma cells with flower-shaped nuclei enabled the identification of site-dependent morphological tumor heterogeneity.
Keywords: flower-shaped nuclei; morphological heterogeneity; multiple myeloma.