Paraneoplastic hemolytic anemia associated with prostate cancer. A case report

Abstract

Paraneoplastic syndromes are a group of tumor-related symptoms not directly attributable to tumors or metas-tasis. Symptoms are caused by secretion of substances by the tumor or the production of antibodies from immune cross-reactivity between tumor and normal tissues. Among hematological paraneoplastic syndromes, cancer-associat-ed hemolytic anemias associated are rare, particularly in solid tumors. We present the case of a patient with localized bladder (high-grade infiltrating papillary carcinoma pT1) and prostate (Gleason 7) cancer who developed warm antibody autoimmune hemolytic anemia during radiation therapy for prostate cancer. It was resolved with prednisone (1 mg/ Kg/day, tapering schedule). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time an autoimmune hemolytic anemia is described in the literature as a paraneoplastic syndrome in such early stages of tumor disease.