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CASE REPORT
Paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration with bilateral facial palsy: a rare primary presentation of breast cancer
  1. Arihant Jain1,
  2. Manu Vats1,
  3. Sushanto Neogi1,
  4. Geeta Anjum Khwaja2
  1. 1Department of General Surgery, Maulana Azad Medical College and Lok Nayak Hospital, New Delhi, Delhi, India
  2. 2Department of Neurology, G B Pant Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research, New Delhi, India
  1. Correspondence to Manu Vats, vatsmanu{at}gmail.com

Summary

Paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration is a rare dysfunction of the cerebellum associated with malignancy. Nevertheless, it is the most common paraneoplastic syndrome affecting the brain. A 50-year-old woman presented to the neurology outpatient department (OPD) with symptoms of cerebellar dysfunction since 4 months and complaints of a painless lump in the right breast and drooling from mouth since 1 month. Examination revealed classical signs of cerebellar dysfunction and a 5×5 cm lump in the right breast with a single right axillary lymph node. Serum anti-Yo antibody titre was strongly positive. The patient was referred to General Surgery OPD for opinion. After establishing the diagnosis of right breast carcinoma; she underwent a right modified radical mastectomy. She was referred to the oncologist for chemo/radiotherapy but because of poor performance status, only symptomatic treatment was pursued. Follow-up till now shows no improvement in the neurological dysfunction.

  • brain stem / cerebellum
  • movement disorders (other than parkinsons)
  • breast cancer
  • breast surgery

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Footnotes

  • Contributors AJ and MV conceived the manuscript. AJ prepared the manuscript. MV edited the manuscript. SN and GAK reviewed the manuscript. All the authors read and approved the final draft.

  • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Patient consent Obtained.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.