Case report

Paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration as a presentation of breast cancer – a case report and review of the literature

Alia Noorani¹ , Zaid Sadiq^{* 1} , Neda Minakaran^{* 1} , Catherine Coleman^{* 1} , Val A Thomas^{* 2} and Kefah Mokbel^{* 1}

¹Breast Surgery Unit, St George's Hospital NHS Trust, London, UK

²Department of Pathology, St George's Hospital NHS Trust, London, UK

author email corresponding author email* Contributed equally

International Seminars in Surgical Oncology 2008, 5:8doi:10.1186/1477-7800-5-8

Published:	21 April 2008

Abstract

Paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration is part of a rare spectrum of neurological syndromes whereby gynaecological, lung or breast cancers present primarily with neurological manifestations. The presence of onconeural antibodies and PET scanning help in the challenging diagnosis of these conditions but despite the treatment of the primary cancer, the prognosis for the neurological symptoms is poor.