Hypertrophic pulmonary osteoarthropathy in anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive lung cancer

Abstract

A 49-year-old man was admitted to a hospital with chest pain and polyarthralgia. Chest radiography showed abnormal findings, and chest computed tomography showed a mass in the right lung. A transbronchial lung biopsy led to a diagnosis of anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive adenocarcinoma. Bone scintigraphy revealed bilateral symmetrical accumulations of99mTechnetium complexes in the long bones, suggesting co-existing hypertrophic pulmonary osteoarthropathy (HPO). The patient underwent four courses of chemotherapy with cisplatin plus pemetrexed, which led to decreased99mTechnetium accumulations in the long bones. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of HPO associated with ALKpositive lung cancer.