[The paraneoplastic syndrome in nasopharynx cancer. 32 cases]

Thirty-two cases of paraneoplastic syndrome associated with nasopharyngeal carcinoma are reported. The prevalence of the syndrome in young subjects was striking: 29 of the patients were under 25 years of age. Seventeen presented with hypertrophic osteoarthropathy, 13 with clubbing of the fingers, 1 with dermatomyositis and 1 with myelemia due to excessive production of bone marrow cells. Twenty-eight patients had metastases which involved the lung in 24. These pulmonary metastases are held responsible for the osteoarticular paraneoplastic syndrome, but in our 4 patients without metastases the syndrome was probably caused by the primary tumour itself.