paraneoplastic syndrome
Meaning of paraneoplastic syndrome: Paraneoplastic syndrome describes symptoms caused indirectly by substances a tumor releases, rather than by the tumor's physical growth or spread.
Definition of paraneoplastic syndrome
A paraneoplastic syndrome is a collection of symptoms that arise when substances released by cancer cells disrupt the normal function of tissues elsewhere in the body, rather than resulting from the tumor's physical size or its direct spread. These substances can include hormones, antibodies mistakenly directed against normal tissue, or other signaling molecules.
Paraneoplastic syndromes can affect many different body systems, including the nervous system, muscles, skin, blood, and hormone regulation, and the specific pattern of symptoms depends on which substances a particular tumor happens to produce. In some cases, a paraneoplastic syndrome appears before a cancer is otherwise detected, prompting a search for an underlying tumor.
Because a paraneoplastic syndrome results from an indirect effect rather than the tumor itself invading nearby tissue, its symptoms do not necessarily correlate with the tumor's size, and it may improve if the underlying cancer is successfully treated.
Used in a sentence
The neurology team considered a paraneoplastic syndrome after the patient developed unexplained weakness alongside a newly found lung mass.
Good to know
A paraneoplastic syndrome can appear before a cancer is otherwise found, so unexplained symptoms consistent with this pattern sometimes prompt investigation for an underlying tumor rather than the reverse.
Word origin
Where “paraneoplastic syndrome” comes from
Formed from Greek para-, meaning alongside, and neoplastic, from neos, meaning new, and plassein, meaning to form, together describing effects occurring alongside a newly formed tissue growth.