A Case Report of Autoimmune Phenomena With Underlying Breast Cancer: Occam’s Razor Versus Hickam’s Dictum
Parima Saxenaa b c d, H. Alkaissia b c d, H. Gilla b c d, Samy I McFarlanea b c d✉
- aInternal Medicine, Kings County Hospital Center, Brooklyn, USA
- bInternal Medicine, State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, USA
- cInternal Medicine, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Brooklyn, USA
- dMedicine and Endocrinology, State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, USA
- ✉Corresponding author
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Abstract
The association between malignancies and autoimmunity had been well-established. The proposed pathophysiology and causality can be bidirectional. For example, a paraneoplastic syndrome can be triggered by an underlying malignancy or vice versa, where chronic inflammation of organs affected by autoimmunity can induce malignant transformation such as the case with inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer or primary sclerosing cholangitis and hepatobiliary cancer. This report presents a case of autoimmune phenomena, namely, autoimmune hemolytic anemia, pernicious anemia, and Graves disease associated with newly diagnosed breast cancer. We also highlight the postulated pathophysiologic mechanisms in an attempt to answer the question of whether the occurrence of these autoimmune phenomena in our patient is a result of the law of parsimony (Occam's razor), where clinical variables are pathogenically related, or the counterargument, where random events and diseases can take place simultaneously (Hickam's dictum).
TL;DRThis report presents a case of autoimmune phenomena, namely, autoimmune hemolytic anemia, pernicious anemia and Graves disease associated with newly diagnosed breast cancer, and highlights the postulated pathophysiologic mechanisms in an attempt to answer the question of whether the occurrence of these autoimmune phenomena in this patient is a result of the law of parsimony or the counterargument. (Semantic Scholar)