Polymyalgia rheumatica and breast cancer.

Polymyalgia rheumatica is infrequently the initial manifestation of underlying malignancy. A patient is described with infiltrating ductal carcinoma of the breast presenting with left breast mass and polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR)-like symptoms. Physicians should consider an associated malignancy in PMR when patients present with atypical features such as young age, modest elevation of the sedimentation rate, and incomplete response to corticosteroids.