POEMS syndrome misdiagnosed as diabetic peripheral neuropathy: A case report

POEMS syndrome is a rare paraneoplastic syndrome caused by potential plasma cell diseases. It is mainly manifested as polyneuropathy and monoclonal plasma cell-proliferative disorder, may also be accompanied by Castleman diseases, sclerosing bone lesions, VEGF elevation, organomegaly, extravascular volume overload, endocrinopathy and skin changes. We report herein a case of POEMS syndrome mainly manifested as lower extremity pain, initially diagnosed as diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) due to diabetes mellitus. Due to the poor treatment effect, the patient was admitted to the hospital for the second time. We found that the patient was also accompanied by elevated M-protein, VEGF elevation, hypogonadism and white nails, and was finally diagnosed as POEMS syndrome. Therefore, the purpose of this report is to advise clinicians not to over diagnose DPN, and to raise awareness of POEMS syndrome, especially among endocrinologists.