Paraneoplastic acral vascular syndrome: Epidemiologic features, clinical manifestations, and disease sequelae

Abstract Background: Acral vascular syndromes associated with malignancy have rarely been reported. Objective: Our purpose was to assess the clinical and evolving features of paraneoplastic acral vascular syndromes. Patients and Methods: Two cases of paraneoplastic gangrene are described and analyzed together with previously reported cases identified by a MEDLINE search. Results: Among the 68 patients identified, 40 had gangrene, 16 had acrocyanosis, and 12 had Raynaud's phenomenon. The male to female ratio was 0.89; median age was 59 years. Fingers were affected in 94%. Adenocarcinomas were the predominant associated malignancies (41%), and metastases were observed in 41%. The acral vascular syndromes in 48% of the patients definitively regressed after tumor treatment. Forty-four percent of the patients died within 2 years. A favorable cutaneous outcome was obtained with prostacyclin infusions in 6 patients. Conclusion: A neoplastic origin of acral vascular syndrome should be considered in elderly patients, especially men, in the absence of usual causative conditions. (J Am Acad Dermatol 2002;47:47-52.)