Saturday 13 November 2010

MRCP revision battle 48.4: Skin conditions associated with malignancy

A brief run-through of a few skin conditions that can be associated with malignancy.

1.  Acanthosis nigricans

Acanthosis nigricans is a brown, velvety pigmentation of the skin, as illustrated below.




















Acanthosis nigricans is associated with:
  • insulin resistance 
    • diabetes
    • acromegaly
    • cushings
    • obesity
    • hypothyroidism
  • PCOS
  • adenocarcinoma - particularly of GI tract/stomach



2. Acanthosis palmaris

Acanthosis palmaris, also known as 'tripe palms' is associated with lung or GI cancer.




3. Erythema gyratum repens

Erthema gyratum repens can be just the most beautiful swirly patterned erythema - click here to see a picture.  Unfortunately it is associated with lung cancer.




4. Necrolytic migratory erythema

From a beautiful rash to a truelly ugly one - necrolytic migratory erythema is associated with glucagonomas.  Click here for more information and images.



5. Sweets syndrome

These are tender purple-red plaques associated with haematological malignancy and IBD.  The patient is likely to have a fever.  The picture below is from wiki commons, posted by Cohen:


On to a very brief battle, Sturge-Weber syndrome...