PURPOSE: Obligatory cutaneous paraneoplastic disorders comprising acanthosis 
nigricans maligna, erythema gyratum repens, paraneoplastic pemphigus, 
hypertrichosis lanuginosa acquisita, erythema necrolyticum migrans and 
acrokeratosis paraneoplastica are rare. However, as markers of an underlying 
internal malignancy they are of utmost importance for the patient. Acrokeratosis 
paraneoplastica (first described by Gougerot and Rupp in 1922) was named after 
Bazex who had then reported several cases in a French dermatological journal 
since 1965 (Bazex et al. in Bull Soc Fr Dermatol Syphiligr 72:182, 1965; Bazex 
and Griffiths in Br J Dermatol 102:301-306, 1980).
METHOD: The study is a clinical case of a patient with acrokeratosis 
paraneoplastica.
RESULTS: the patient was later diagnosed with a cervical lymph node metastasis 
and thereafter with a primary squamous cell carcinoma of the left upper lobe and 
upon treatment responded with the clearing of the skin changes.
CONCLUSION: Identification of a paraneoplastic syndrome may enhance the earlier 
diagnosis of the associated tumor and may thus enable curative treatment.