Crystalline tissue deposits on a case of multiple myeloma
Mullen, B.; Chalvardjian, A.
Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine 105(2): 94-97
1981
ISSN/ISBN: 0003-9985 PMID: 6893925 Document Number: 174773
Crystalline tissue deposits were found at autopsy in a 52 yr old male subject who had had multiple myeloma for 6 1/2 yr and in whom the hyperviscosity syndrome had developed terminally. The tissue deposits were digested by trypsin, but could not be further characterized by immunohistochemical techniques. The crystals varied in size and shape and were located in tissue histiocytes, renal tubular cells, Leydig's cells and adrenocortical cells. No crystals were identified within plasma cells. Their presence in the present case may have been related to the relatively long course of the disease, the high levels of serum proteins terminally, an unusual physicochemical structure of the secreted proteins or possibly to the effects of chemotherapy.