This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Video Supplement  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Ataxia  • Movement Disorders  • Oncology  • Diagnosis  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Shen-Yang Lim, MBBS, FRACP; Warren P. Mason, MD, FRCPC; Nathan P. Young, DO; Robert Chen, MBBChir, MSc, FRCPC; James H. Bower, MD; Andrew McKeon, MD; Sean J. Pittock, MD; Anthony E. Lang, MD, FRCPC

Arch Neurol. 2009;66(10):1285-1287.

Objective  To describe and provide audiovisual documentation of a syndrome of polymyoclonus, laryngospasm, and cerebellar ataxia associated with adenocarcinoma and multiple neural cation channel autoantibodies.

Design  Case report with video.

Setting  University hospitals.

Patient  A 69-year-old woman presented with subacute onset of whole-body tremulousness and laryngospasm attributed to gastroesophageal reflux.

Results  Further evaluation revealed polymyoclonus, cerebellar ataxia, and laryngospasm suspicious of an underlying malignant neoplasm. Surface electromyography of multiple limb muscles confirmed the presence of polymyoclonus. The patient was seropositive for P/Q-type voltage-gated calcium channel antibody; subsequently, whole-body fluorine 18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography and cervical lymph node biopsy revealed widespread metastatic adenocarcinoma. Follow-up serologic evaluation revealed calcium channel antibodies (P/Q type and N type) and potassium channel antibody.

Conclusions  We highlight the importance of recognizing polymyoclonus. To our knowledge, this is also the first description of a syndrome of polymyoclonus, laryngospasm, and ataxia associated with adenocarcinoma and these cation channel antibodies.

Author Affiliations: Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Dr Lim); Movement Disorders Centre, Toronto Western Hospital (Drs Lim, Chen, and Lang) and Department of Medicine, Princess Margaret Hospital (Dr Mason), Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota (Drs Young, Bower, McKeon, and Pittock).

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?