Ad:

Paraneoplastic syndromes

Patrycja Piechaczek

You can read this text in 2 min.

Paraneoplastic syndromes

medforum

Diagnosis

Paraneoplastic syndromes (or paraneoplastic syndromes) are symptoms that accompany cancer.

Ad:

These symptoms may resolve after removal of the cancer.

There are two most common mechanisms of paraneoplastic syndrome:

  • secretion of hormones or growth factors/cytokines by the tumour cells or by the body as a result of the presence of the cancer,
  • autoimmunity, which is the result of anti-tumour antibodies reacting with healthy tissues.

Paraneoplastic syndromes include:

Endocrine syndromes:

  • excessive secretion of adrenocorticotropic hormone (Cushing's syndrome), most common in lung cancer, mainly in small cell carcinoma. Clinical manifestations: weakness, skin discolouration, diabetes mellitus.
  • excessive secretion of antidiuretic hormone (ISADH syndrome), occurs mainly in lung cancers, cancers of the prostate, bladder, pancreas. Symptoms: hyponatraemia (reduced blood sodium level), low serum osmolarity, high urine osmolarity.
  • hypercalcaemia - caused by the secretion of a parathormone-like protein. It accompanies squamous cell carcinomas of the lung, head and neck, bone and bone marrow metastases, lymphomas,
  • hypoglycaemia - caused by the production of insulin-like growth factor by tumour cells. It accompanies mesotheliomas, retroperitoneal sarcomas.

Neurological syndromes:

  • brain damage (dementias, encephalopathies, cerebellar damage),
  • symptoms of medullary damage - observed in the course of small-cell lung cancer andHodgkin's lymphoma,
  • peripheral neuropathy - seen in lung cancer, myeloma, Hodgkin's lymphoma,
  • myasthenia gravis, accompanies thymoma,
  • pseudomembranous Lambert-Eaton syndrome - most often seen in the course of small-cell lung cancer.

Endocrine syndromes, Neurological syndromes, Paraneoplastic syndromes
photo: panthermedia

Haematological syndromes:

  • most commonly anaemia,
  • coagulopathies,
  • granulosity - squamous cell carcinoma of the lung, renal cell carcinoma,
  • eosinophilia - Hodgkin's lymphoma,
  • thrombocytosis - multiple tumours.

Skin lesions

  • black keratosis - manifests as itchy brown patches in the armpits and groin area, most often accompanies lung and stomach cancers,
  • vitiligo - occurs in patients with melanoma, sometimes accompanies lymphoma,
  • numerous seborrhoeic warts - accompanies cancers of internal organs, e.g. lung, stomach,
  • pruritus - in the diagnosis of malignant granuloma and tumours of the central nervous system, - blistering syndromes - usually accompanies lymphomas.

Paraneoplastic symptoms are tumour-specific. They are independent of the spread of the cancer and the size of the tumour.