[Nodular panniculitis--a paraneoplastic syndrome in pancreatic carcinoma]

A 68-year-old woman is described, who suffered from painful, subcutaneous nodules on her lower extremities. The clinical investigations revealed a solitary liver metastasis of a pancreatic carcinoma removed seven years before. Her serum lipase was 6088 U/l (normal value < 190 U/l). After embolisation and surgical resection of the metastasis the serum lipase level became unmeasurably low and the painful nodular panniculitis disappeared completely. Nodular panniculitis is a paraneoplastic syndrome not well known among physicians, which was easily treatable in our case.