There are few clinical and electrophysiological studies on paraneoplastic neurological syndrome (PNS) with peripheral nerve damage, which brings great challenges to clinical identification and diagnosis. We analyzed the clinical and electrophysiological data of twenty-five confirmed PNS cases using peripheral nerve damage patients. The results showed the most common chief complaint was weakness (20/25, 80%), followed by numbness (13/25, 52%). Nineteen patients (76%) exhibited peripheral nervous system lesions prior to occult tumors, and the median time from symptom onset to the diagnosis of a tumor was 4 months. The electrophysiological results revealed a higher rate of abnormal amplitudes than latency or conduction velocity, especially in sensory nerves. Meanwhile, we found that, compared with patients >65 y, patients aged ≤65 y exhibited more chronic onset (p = 0.01) and longer disease duration (p = 0.01), more motor nerve involvements (p = 0.02), more amplitude involvement (p = 0.01), and higher rates of the inability to walk independently at presentation (p = 0.02). The present study construed that weakness and paresthesia are common symptoms in PNS with peripheral nerve damage in some areas, and the electrophysiological results mainly changed in amplitude. Tumor screening in young and middle-aged patients with peripheral neuropathy cannot be ignored.
Keywords: age; electrophysiological; paraneoplastic neurological syndrome; peripheral nerve.