A tumour lysis syndrome in a chemotherapy naïve patient with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma

A 56-year-old woman with a new diagnosis of metastatic pancreatic cancer presents to the emergency room with generalised fatigue. The patient is afebrile, however, hypotensive and tachycardic. Physical examination shows diffuse lymphadenopathy. Initial laboratory tests indicate that the patient has hyperkalaemia, hypocalcaemia, with a high lactate dehydrogenase and high uric acid. The patient was also in renal failure. On the basis of the clinical presentation, the patient was diagnosed with spontaneous tumour lysis syndrome, despite the syndrome never having been reported in metastatic pancreatic cancer. The patient was treated appropriately with intravenous hydration, allopurinol and rasburicase. All laboratory abnormalities were corrected by day 3 of treatment.