Nociceptive pain unmasking a serious pathology - paraneoplastic hypertrophic osteoarthropathy: A case report.

rationaleHypertrophic osteoarthropathy, also named Pierre Marie-Bamberger syndrome, represents a rare medical condition that may be considered either a primary or a secondary disease, and lung malignancies are responsible for more than two-thirds of the cases with secondary forms of the disease. PATIENT CONCERNS: We present the case of a 41-year-old man referred to our Neurology Department for pain that was considered secondary to cervical disc protrusions. The neurologic examination was normal. However, the general examination showed digital clubbing, right lateral cervical adenopathy, and pachydermia. The radiographic examinations of the upper and lower limbs depicted osseous abnormalities typical for periostosis, and the computed tomography of the thorax showed the presence of a mass lesion in the right upper pulmonary lobe. High values of vascular endothelial growth factor were also found. The patient was admitted to the Pneumology Clinic, where biopsy was performed from the lateral cervical adenopathy. DIAGNOSES: The anatomopathological examination revealed multiple neoplastic infiltrates suggestive of adenocarcinoma metastasis. Based on the clinical examination and radiological and histologic findings, the diagnosis of pulmonary adenocarcinoma with lymph nodes metastases and paraneoplastic hypertrophic osteoarthropathy was established.

interventionsThe patient received treatment with nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs and opiate analgesics that relieved the pain. OUTCOMES: The patient was referred to the Oncology Department for further treatment of the primary pathology. He received different types of chemotherapeutics, immunotherapy, and radiotherapy. However, despite all therapeutic measures, the disease rapidly progressed and the patient died 9 months later. LESSONS: This is an interesting case of a patient with an overlooked pathology, which was refereed to our clinic for further investigations of a pain that was considered neuropathic, secondary to small cervical protrusions. Conversely, the pain proved to be nociceptive and Pierre Marie-Bamberger syndrome was the positive diagnosis in our patient, as it can be associated with numerous diseases, especially of neoplastic origin.