Inclusion Criteria

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

- Histologically confirmed solitary plasmacytoma of 1 of the following types:

- Solitary bone plasmacytoma

- Extraosseus solitary plasmacytoma

- Bone marrow plasmacytosis < 10% within the past 4 weeks

- Low serum and/or urine M-protein meeting ≥ 1 of the following criteria:

- Serum IgG < 3.5 g/dL

- Serum IgA < 2.0 g/dL

- Urine M-protein (kappa or lambda) < 1.0 g/24 hours

- No lytic lesions on skeletal survey other than a single lesion associated with
solitary plasmacytoma within the past 4 weeks

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age

- 18 and over

Performance status

- Zubrod 0-2

Life expectancy

- Not specified

Hematopoietic

- Hemoglobin ≥ 10 g/dL* AND/OR

- No hemoglobin 2 g/dL < lower limit of normal* (LLN) NOTE: *Patients with a history of
hemoglobin < 10 g/dL AND/OR < 2 g/dL < LLN that has corrected or improved after
epoetin alfa but requires continued treatment with epoetin alfa are not eligible

Hepatic

- Not specified

Renal

- Calcium ≤ 10.5 mg/dL OR

- Calcium normal

- Creatinine ≤ 2 mg/dL

Other

- No other malignancy within the past 5 years except adequately treated basal cell or
squamous cell skin cancer, carcinoma in situ of the cervix or breast, or stage I or
II cancer that is currently in complete remission

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy

- Not specified

Chemotherapy

- Not specified

Endocrine therapy

- No prior high-dose steroids except to relieve neurological compromise

Radiotherapy

- Prior localized radiotherapy for myeloma allowed

- Concurrent radiotherapy allowed

Surgery

- Prior surgery for myeloma allowed

Other

- No other prior therapy for myeloma

- Concurrent enrollment in protocol SWOG-S0309 (Myeloma Specimen Repository) allowed