ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Plasma cell leukemia (PCL) is a rare but most aggressive form of monoclonal gammopathies, characterized by the presence of clonal cells in peripheral blood and a poor prognosis. There are two forms of PCL: primary, which arise de novo, and secondary which is a leukemic transformation in patients with previously multiple myeloma. Patients with PCL may benefit from stem cell transplantation and novel agents, but their prognosis remains inferior to that of patients who have multiple myeloma. CLINICAL CASE: We describe the case of 53 years old patient with relapsed plasma cells leukemia after unrelated bone marrow transplant, treated with a KRD chemotherapy regimen. He performed a very good response after the first 2 cycles (bone marrow malignant plasma cells reducing from 36% to 0.5%). However, according to the very poor prognosis of this disease, after the 4th cycle of chemotherapy the patient progressed and dead into few weeks. The KRD regimen was able to convert the chimerism after bone marrow transplant from partial to complete after the first 2 cycles of treatment, showing some activity in this disease. CONCLUSIONS: KRD regimen, in our clinical case, showed some activity being well tolerated in a very poor prognosis disease such as PCL. Probably, right use and maybe sooner use of new drugs such as bortezomib or carfilzomib, in combination regimens, may be useful in better treating such disease.