Onkológia 6/2010

Paraneoplastic syndromes

Paraneoplastic syndromes are group of symptoms associated with malignant disease but are not due to the direct local growth of the primary tumour or its distant metastases. Symptoms include general, endocrine, skin, neurological, musculoskeletal, renal, hematological, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal signs of a malignancy presence in the body. They undergo a complicated biochemical or immunological development. The type, extent and intensity of paraneoplastic syndromes are not in direct correlation to the range of the tumour. The presence of paraneoplastic syndromes could constitute the first warning signal, in some cases occurring several months before the primary tumour. This article describes the most important and most frequently occurring signs associated with a specific malignant disease.

Keywords: paraneoplastic syndrome, ectopic hormone production, circulating immune complexes, cytokines, associated tumors.