POEMS syndrome (polyneuropathy, organomegaly, endocrinopathy, monoclonal protein, skin changes) is a rare paraneoplastic disorder due to an underlying plasma cell dyscrasia. The diagnosis of POEMS syndrome requires a chronic polyneuropathy and a monoclonal lambda plasma cell-proliferative disorder (mandatory criteria), and various systematic symptoms such as sclerotic bone lesions, Castleman's disease, organomegaly, endocrinopathy, skin changes, papilloedema and biological abnormalities such as elevated vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), thrombocytosis or polycythaemia. We describe an observation of a patient with recurrent thrombosis with thrombocytosis that, after excluding a myeloproliferative neoplasm, proved to be due to POEMS syndrome. This case is unusual compared to the foreground thrombotic symptomatology. POEMS syndrome (polyneuropathy, organomegaly, endocrinopathy, monoclonal protein, skin changes) is a rare multi-systematic paraneoplastic disorder due to an underlying plasma cell disorder. The diagnosis of POEMS syndrome requires the presence of both mandatory criteria (a chronic polyneuropathy and a monoclonal plasma cell-proliferative disorder, always lambda restricted); at least one major (among sclerotic bone lesions, Castleman's disease, elevated VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor)) and one minor criterion (among organomegaly, endocrinopathy, skin changes (haemangiomas, hypertrichosis, hyperpigmentation), papilloedema and thrombocytosis or polycythaemia. We describe an unusual observation of a young patient with recurrent thrombosis with thrombocytosis that, after excluding a myeloproliferative neoplasm, proved to be due to POEMS syndrome.
Keywords: POEMS syndrome; plasma cell disorder; thrombosis.