An unusually severe subacute motor neuronopathy in Hodgkin's disease

Abstract

A patient in whom an unusually severe Hodgkin's disease was complicated by subacute motor neuronopathy is described. This is a syndrome involving the lower motor neurons, recently described in patients with Hodgkin's disease and other lymphomas; its course is more often benign, and independent from that of the underlying lymphoma. In our patient it was unusually severe. Its pathological features are described. We found only 13 cases of subacute motor neuronopathy reported in current literature, with pathological documentation in 5 of these. A brief discussion and review of the literature follow.