Discussion:
The association between vasculitis and cancer is not well defined. It
appears to be an immune response disturbance in GCA that might
predispose to cancer or relapsing disease [4]. The available studies
show that this association is more frequently found in hematologic
cancers and to a lesser extent in solid cancers (lung, prostate, colon,
breast and kidney) [4]. Ji followed 3941 patients admitted with CGA
and polymyalgia rheumatica and found an incidence excess of 19% of
cancer in those patients, mostly in the first year after the diagnosis
but found no excess of mortality [5]. In a retrospective study,
Deshayes did not found association between any particular cancer type
and GCA but found that only 4% ran a paraneoplastic course [2].
Solans-LaquƩ stated that tumor recurrence should be suspected in older
patients with new-onset vasculitis or relapsing vasculitis [3].