PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Richard J. Lederman
AU  - Ronald M. Bukowski
AU  - Paul Nickerson
TI  - Carcinoid myopathy
DP  - 1987 Jul 01
TA  - Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine
PG  - 299--303
VI  - 54
IP  - 4
4099  - http://www.ccjm.org/content/54/4/299.short
4100  - http://www.ccjm.org/content/54/4/299.full
SO  - Cleve Clin J Med1987 Jul 01; 54
AB  - Myopathy with malignant carcinoid syndrome appears to be rare. A 52-year-old woman with a 9-year history of carcinoid symptoms and biopsy-proven metastatic carcinoid of the liver is reported. After 6 months of chemotherapy, proximal weakness and atrophy with electromyographic and histological evidence of myopa-thy developed. Urinary 5-HIAA and plasma serotonin levels were markedly elevated. Charts of 44 patients with malignant carcinoid tumors were reviewed; six of these had symptoms of neuromuscular disease but only one had objective weakness. Five of six had moderate to marked elevation of blood serotonin; the sixth had no assay. Only one other patient had high serotonin levels but had no weakness. The findings support a pathogenetic role for circulating serotonin in this unusual myopathy, although the mechanism remains uncertain.