A paraneoplastic syndrome exacerbated by checkpoint inhibition therapy

Abstract

Polymyalgia rheumatica is a disease characterized by systemic inflammation of the proximal muscles and pain in the hips and shoulders, but when this disease occurs contemporaneously with malignancy, there is a possibility of it being a paraneoplastic syndrome. With the advent of immunotherapies to treat various cancers, immune-related adverse events from these therapies are recognized as de novo findings or as flares of an underlying existing rheumatic disease. In this report, we present a case of polymyalgia rheumatica presenting as a paraneoplastic syndrome that was exacerbated during therapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors for recurrent melanoma.

Keywords:

• Immune checkpoint inhibitor
• immune-related adverse event
• ipilimumab
• melanoma
• nivolumab
• paraneoplastic syndrome
• polymyalgia rheumatica