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Editorial
. 2017 Dec;6(2):115-116.
doi: 10.1007/s40122-017-0077-2. Epub 2017 Jul 1.

Painful Peripheral Neuropathy and Cancer

Panagiotis Zis  1   2 , Giustino Varrassi  3
Affiliations
Editorial

Painful Peripheral Neuropathy and Cancer

Panagiotis Zis et al. Pain Ther. 2017 Dec.

Abstract

Peripheral neuropathy (PN) is very prevalent in cancer patients and a leading cause of pain related to cancer. However, the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms vary significantly. Peripheral neuropathy can be a direct or an indirect complication of cancer or cancer-related treatment, or a pre-existing comorbidity not related to cancer. PN might also occur as a paraneoplastic neurological syndrome. Such syndromes are immune-mediated manifestations that usually precede the diagnosis of cancer or cancer's relapse. Pain is very prevalent in paraneoplastic peripheral neuropathies and, therefore, merits attention.

Keywords: Cancer; Pain; Paraneoplastic; Polyneuropathy.

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