The sign of Leser-Trélat: a paraneoplastic cutaneous syndrome that facilitates early diagnosis of occult cancer.

The sign of Leser-Trélat has been described as a rare cutaneous marker of internal malignancy. We report a patient presenting with the sign of Leser-Trélat, in whom a limited diagnostic workup for an associated malignancy lead to the early diagnosis of asymptomatic renal cell carcinoma and curative tumor nephrectomy. A review on this and other cutaneous paraneoplastic syndromes is given. Since they may be the only presenting sign of an occult cancer, patients with these syndromes should undergo a diagnostic screening program for malignant disease.