BAZEX SYNDROME - ACROKERATOSIS PARANEOPLASTICA

The focus of this article is acrokeratosis paraneoplastica, one of two disorders that have acquired the eponym Bazex syndrome. To date, all of the patients reported in the literature have had an underlying neop lasm, most commonly squamous cell carcinoma of the upper aerodigestive tract. In this review of 113 cases of acrokeratosis paraneoplastica ( mean age, 61 years; 105 males, 8 females), the psoriasiform lesions pr eceded the diagnosis of the associated malignancy in 73 (67%) of 109 p atients, whereas the cutaneous manifestations followed the diagnosis o f the neoplasm in only 16 (15%) of 109: in the remainder, the onset of the skin lesions and the diagnosis of the tumor occurred simultaneous ly, Therefore, awareness of the cutaneous signs of Bazex syndrome is o f obvious importance to dermatologists. Evidence in favor of the paran eoplastic nature of this disease is as follows: in 81 (93%) of 87 pati ents with adequate clinical descriptions, the skin lesions either impr oved significantly (or resolved) when the underlying neoplasm was trea ted or they remained unchanged in the setting of persistent disease. O ccasionally, the reappearance of skin lesions has signaled a recurrenc e of the tumor. (C) 1995 by W.B. Saunders Company