Journal of Clinical Case Reports

POEMS Syndrome: A Multidisciplinary Diagnostic Challenge

Abstract

Leonardo Enciso, Jorge Aponte, Daniel Rodriguez, Carmenza Sandoval and Hernán Gomez

POEMS syndrome is a paraneoplastic phenomenon associated with polyneuropathy and paraproteinemia that arises out of the clonal expansion of plasma tumor cells. Its other distinguishing features include sclerotic bone lesions, increased vascular endothelial growth factor levels, Castleman disease alterations in lymph node biopsy and association with organomegaly, endocrinopathy, cutaneous lesions, papilledema, extravascular volume overload and thrombocytosis. Although established diagnostic criteria exist, the fact that the disease is rare and shares similar clinical manifestations with non-neoplastic conditions means that in most cases patients are diagnosed at latestage, when multiple complications have appeared and treatments for other conditions have already been given. Therefore, a high degree of suspicion combined with a multidisciplinary approach are requisites for attaining precise diagnosis and providing timely treatment. Due to the wide differential diagnosis that the syndrome´s clinical features encompass as well as its subsequent favourable responses to bone marrow transplant and diverse chemotherapy treatments, clinicians from diverse fields should include the POEMS syndrome within polyneuropathy differential diagnoses that require specific diagnostic tests. Herein, we present our case study in which we emphasize diagnosis and treatment of patients treated at our institution.