Paraneoplastic syndromes

A complex of symptoms which might occur in cancer patients and can not be explained by the
local presence or either the distant spread of the tumor.
Sometimes paraneoplastic syndrome can be the earliest diagnosis of a hidden neoplasm.
They also can cause a lot of clinical problems to the patient.
Here are some examples
Endocrinopathies are the most common manifestations of paraneoplastic syndromes esp.
Cushing syndrome, patients have usually carcinoma in the lung, mainly small cell carcinoma,
which can produce corticotropin-like peptides.
Another example is Hypercalcemia, which can be caused by osteolysis induced by cancer or
when the cancer produces hormones-PTH or PTH like peptides- which increase calcium in the
blood.
Hypercalcemia is common among patients with squamous cell carcinoma in the lung.
Other endocrinopathies are hypoglycemia, carcinoid syndrome and polycythemia.
There are other paraneoplastic syndromes like nerve and muscle syndromes like Myasthenia
gravis as a which occurs when the body builds antibodies against tumor antigens, dermatologic
syndromes like Acanthosis nigricans and osseous syndromes like hypertrophic
osteoarthropathy.