Acanthosis Nigricans – a Clinical Manifestation of a Gastric Cancer

Diffuse cutaneous hyperpigmentation may have various causes: endocrine, metabolic, autoimmune, melanosis secondary to metastatic melanoma, drug or heavy metal poisoning. A cause to remember is acanthosis nigricans, which, in the form of paraneoplastic syndrome may be the first or even the only clinical manifestation of a cancer. The most common cause of malignant acanthosis nigricans is the gastric adenocarcinoma. This report presents a case, on those the histopathological diagnosis of acanthosis nigricans was not recognized, but which was suspected clinically. Investigation that followed found an aggressive gastric neoplasm, which has could benefit from surgery and chemotherapy. There are discussed the pathogenesis of this paraneopastic syndrome and the clinical manifestations of its association with the gastric cancer.