Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2025 Sep;41(9):1207-1211.
doi: 10.1007/s12055-025-01976-x. Epub 2025 May 31.

Pleomorphic carcinoma of the lung with paraneoplastic fever as presentation

Naveen Kumar Kushwaha  1 , Laleng Mawia Darlong  1 , Sunil Pasricha  2
Affiliations
Case Reports

Pleomorphic carcinoma of the lung with paraneoplastic fever as presentation

Naveen Kumar Kushwaha et al. Indian J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2025 Sep.

Abstract

Pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma (PPC) is a rare, highly aggressive variant of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), comprising 0.1-0.4% of all pulmonary malignancies. While lung cancers typically present with symptoms like cough and hemoptysis, paraneoplastic syndromes are observed in about 10% of cases. Paraneoplastic fever as an initial manifestation is extremely rare. We present a rare case of PPC with neoplastic fever, emphasizing the importance of paraneoplastic syndromes during the evaluation of lung cancer. Surgical resection successfully alleviates neoplastic fever, highlighting the need to recognize paraneoplastic fever as a diagnostic challenge and consider it as a differential in cases of unexplained fever for prompt intervention.

Keywords: Non-small cell lung cancer; Paraneoplastic fever; Pembrolizumab; Pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma; Surgical resection.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

References

    1. WHO Classification of Tumours Editorial Board. WHO classification of tumours. Thoracic Tumours. 5th ed. Lyon: IARC Press; 2021.
    1. Ito K, Oizumi S, Fukumoto S, Harada M, Ishimoto O, Fujita Y, et al. Clinical characteristics of pleomorphic carcinoma of the lung. Lung Cancer. 2010;68:204–10. 10.1016/j.lungcan.2009.06.002. - PubMed
    1. Kanaji N, Watanabe N, Kita N, Bandoh S, Tadokoro A, Ishii T, et al. Paraneoplastic syndromes associated with lung cancer. World J Clin Oncol. 2014;5:197–223. 10.5306/wjco.v5.i3.197. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pasikhova Y, Ludlow S, Baluch A. Fever in patients with cancer. Cancer Control. 2017;24:193–7. - PubMed
    1. Zee YK, Soo RA. Non-small cell lung cancer presenting with neoplastic fever at diagnosis and relapse. Int J Infect Dis. 2010;14:e518–21. 10.1016/j.ijid.2009.06.009. - PubMed

Publication types