Bazex syndrome: acrokeratosis paraneoplastica.

Abstract

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 neoplasm, 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 preceded the diagnosis of the associated malignancy in 73 (67%) of 109 patients, whereas the cutaneous manifestations followed the diagnosis of the neoplasm in only 16 (15%) of 109; in the remainder, the onset of the skin lesions and the diagnosis of the tumor occurred simultaneously. Therefore, awareness of the cutaneous signs of Bazex syndrome is of obvious importance to dermatologists. Evidence in favor of the paraneoplastic nature of this disease is as follows: in 81 (93%) of 87 patients with adequate clinical descriptions, the skin lesions either improved significantly (or resolved) when the underlying neoplasm was treated or they remained unchanged in the setting of persistent disease. Occasionally, the reappearance of skin lesions has signaled a recurrence of the tumor.