[Polymyalgia rheumatica as the presenting symptom of multiple myeloma]

Polymyalgia rheumatica is a clinical syndrome which appears after the age of 50 and is characterized by pain and stiffness of proximal muscles, rapid sedimentation rate and a dramatic response to small doses of corticosteroids. The linkage between polymyalgia rheumatica and temporal arteritis is well-known, but the connection with monoclonal gammopathy and lympho-proliferative disorders has rarely been reported. We present a 74-year-old man admitted with the typical clinical picture of polymyalgia rheumatica, which was the presenting symptom of monoclonal gammopathy and subsequently-diagnosed multiple myeloma.