[Papilloedema and POEMS syndrome]

POEMS syndrome stands for the first letter of the words: polyneuropathy (P), organomegaly (O), endocrinopathy (E), monoclonal component (M), changes of the tegument (S-skin). In 33-84% of the cases, chronic bilateral papilloedema is associated with the syndrome. The disease is a multisystem disorder, a plasma cell dyscrasia being present, often associated with Castleman disease. Inflammatory cytokines, endothelial vascular growth factor and human herpes virus-8 are thought to play an important role in pathogenesis. This summary is about a 16 year old female patient, where the diagnosis of POEMS syndrome was elaborated based on the systematization of the clinical symptomatology, developed over a long period of time. Based on the latest data from literature, peculiarities of diagnosis, pathogenesis and therapy of the disease are being discussed.