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Paraneoplastic Myopathy

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Immune-Mediated Myopathies and Neuropathies

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Abstract

Paraneoplastic syndromes are diseases caused by malignancies through means other than mass effect or metastasis [1]. Even though they occur in only about 10% of patients with cancer, physicians are wise to be vigilant for them for several reasons: a paraneoplastic phenomenon can be the first sign of cancer in an undiagnosed individual, and it can be severe enough to cause death. Despite the tumor being distinctly separate from the area where the paraneoplastic syndrome manifests, it is important to realize that paraneoplastic phenomena are not caused by metastases of the neoplasm. It has been recognized that compared with the normal population, patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) live with an increased risk of developing malignancy. Cancer-associated myositis (CAM) and the malignancy of which it is a paraneoplastic phenomenon can have a parallel clinical course, and relapse of malignancy can be accompanied by a similar resurgence of myositis. Patients with CAM rarely have myositis-specific and myositis-associated autoantibodies. The features of an inflammatory myopathy that are associated with a lower risk of cancer include the anti-Jo-1 antibody, anti-extractable nuclear antigens (including anti-SM, anti-RNP, anti-RO/LA) antibodies, interstitial lung disease, joint involvement, and Raynaud phenomenon. Age-appropriate cancer screening should be ensured in patients with inflammatory myopathy, and this vigilance for underlying cancer should be continued in case the malignancy develops years after the myopathy. Other means of discovering a malignancy in this setting include imaging the chest, abdomen, and pelvis and checking serum levels of tumor markers.

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  1. NextGenPath Diagnostics, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India

    Balan Louis Gaspar

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Gaspar, B.L. (2023). Paraneoplastic Myopathy. In: Immune-Mediated Myopathies and Neuropathies. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-8421-1_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-8421-1_11

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  • Online ISBN: 978-981-19-8421-1

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