POEMS syndrome

POEMS syndrome is a rare paraneoplastic syndrome caused by an abnormal clone of plasma cells. Its name is an acronym for its major features: polyneuropathy, organomegaly, endocrinopathy, myeloma protein, an abnormal immunoglobulin, and skin changes; a related name, PEP syndrome, covers polyneuropathy, endocrinopathy and plasma cell dyscrasia. Its symptoms arise from humoral factors, including hormones, cytokines and immunoglobulins, released by the neoplastic plasma cells and by the body's immune response to them, with many features traced to the abnormal myeloma proteins and specific cytokines the malignant cells produce. It is also known as Crow-Fukase syndrome, osteosclerotic myeloma and Takatsuki syndrome. It falls under oncology, usually begins in the fifth or sixth decade of life with an average age of onset around 50, is chronic and rare, affects up to twice as many men as women, and carries a median survival of about 13.8 years.