[Recent advances of paraneoplastic neuromuscular syndromes]

Abstract

Paraneoplastic neuromuscular syndromes reveal heterogeneous clinical features and often associate with particular tumor types. Patients presenting with one of the more distinctive syndromes, such as subacute cerebellar degeneration and Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome, should undergo a careful search for detecting an occult malignancy. At present, an autoimmune pathogenesis has been clearly demonstrated only for the Lambert-Eaton syndrome. Specific autoantibodies in other syndromes may be diagnostic in identifying an underlying malignancy as a tumor marker. The precise role of antibodies in producing tissue damage and clinical manifestation is still controversial.