Concomitant Discovery of Systemic Lupus and Multiple Myeloma: Is It a Coincidence?

Abstract

Introduction: It has been suggested that patients with autoimmune diseases are more likely to develop other malignancies. However, the association between lupus and multiple myeloma (MM) is still not much described in the literature. Case Report: We report the observation of a 46-year-old female patient, in premenopause, in whom the diagnosis of systemic lupus was retained (SLICC criteria 7) with cutaneous, joint, hematological, immunological, and renal involvement. The discovery of MM was suspected due to a peak in gamma globulins on plasma protein electrophoresis and confirmed by myelogram. The outcome was fatal due to septic shock before starting any immunosuppression. Discussion and Conclusion: In this literature review, 15 cases are reported on the occurrence of MM years after the diagnosis of lupus, only two cases were like our observation with a concomitant diagnosis of the 2 diseases. The management is still not codified; hence the prognosis of this association remains reserved, encouraging early detection of malignant plasma cell proliferation.