Myeloma multiplex versus osteolytic metastatic carcinoma: Differential diagnosis in dry bones

Abstract

Abstract Taking into account the problems in differential diagnosis between lesions caused by the primary osseous tumour myeloma multiplex and the lytic form of metastatic carcinoma even in living patients, several authors of palaeopathological papers have been hesitant in accepting the possibility of distinguishing between the two processes in dry bones. In the light of several newly detected cases of both lesions in material from archaeological sites in central Europe, Egypt and Nubia, several features that might be of use in the separation of both disorders are demonstrated and discussed.