Arthritis of systemic disease

Squamous cell carcinoma of the lung presenting with cutaneous leukocytoclastic vasculitis: a case report

An elderly patient with paraneoplastic cutaneous leukocytoclastic vasculitis (CLV) leading to the discovery of an as-yet asymptomatic, potentially surgically curable squamous cell carcinoma of the lung is presented. This type of vasculitis has not been previously described in association with this type of lung cancer. Since vasculitic paraneoplastic syndromes, including CLV, may develop before the clinical presentation of malignant tumors, the present case and others previously reported strongly suggest that in apparently idiopathic CLV, patients should be evaluated for the presence of occult malignancy that could be curable by early detection.

Cancer polyarthritis resembling rheumatoid arthritis as a first sign of hidden neoplasms. Report of two cases and review of the literature

Recent onset arthritis reminiscent of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may be an early manifestation of an occult malignancy. In this report, we present two patients with cancer-associated polyarthritis. Both suffered from symmetric polyarthritis when initially visiting their physicians and did not achieve relief when treated with non-steroidal anti-rheumatic drugs (NSAIDs). In both patients, subsequent work-up led to the diagnosis of an underlying malignancy. One patient suffered from small cell lung cancer (SCLC), while the other was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma of the colon. In both, the arthritis spontaneously disappeared after successful treatment of the malignancy, i.e. chemotherapy and tumor resection, respectively. We discuss these cases in view of the existing literature, since awareness of the entity of cancer polyarthritis is necessary for its timely treatment and may potentially be life-saving.