Rheumatoid arthritis-like syndrome: a presenting symptom of malignancy. Report of 3 cases and review of the literature.

Recent onset arthritis might be an early manifestation of an occult malignancy. Three patients are described: one with carcinoma, primary site unknown; one with oat cell carcinoma of the bronchus; and one with breast cancer. The presenting symptom of their disease was polyarthritis. Two of the patients were seropositive and in two patients the arthritis regressed following the removal of the tumor. Awareness of paraneoplastic arthritis, especially if its appearance is explosive or in relatively old age, should caution the physician of the possibility of a potentially curable, but hidden neoplasm.